MONDAY, Oct. 10 (HealthDay News) -- A quality improvement program developed for a managed care health plan had no effect on colorectal cancer (CRC) screenings, according to research published in the Nov. 15 edition of Cancer.
Patricia Ganz, M.D., of the Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center in Los Angeles, conducted a two-year randomized controlled effectiveness trial involving 1,850 patients at 32 provider organizations. The quality improvement group included 920 patients and the control group included 930 patients.
The researchers found that 26.4% of the quality improvement group received any CRC screening compared to 26.3% of the control group. No significant differences were seen for flexible sigmoidoscopy (6.3% versus 9.3%), fecal occult blood testing (18.7% versus 18.3%) and colonoscopy (5.4% versus 4.6%).
"During the dissemination of our intervention program, we became acutely aware of the limited provider organization resources that were available to implement and sustain the quality improvement activities, which had not been anticipated," the authors state. "Although well intentioned, the medical directors, facilitators and providers with whom we worked were unable to galvanize their organizations to make the changes necessary to have an impact on CRC screening rates."
Abstract
Full Text (payment may be required)
