Reminders to Patients — but Not Physicians — Increase Colorectal Cancer Screening Rates

27 feb 2009--Mailed reminders to patients that they're overdue for colorectal cancer screening produce "a modest increase" in screening rates, while electronic reminders to their physicians are less successful, reports Archives of Internal Medicine.

Some 22,000 patients overdue for screening and 110 primary care physicians in a group practice were randomized either to receive reminders or not to. Patients' reminders arrived with a fecal occult blood test kit; physicians were reminded electronically during visits with overdue patients.

After 15 months, patients getting reminders showed a modest but significant increase in screening rates over controls (44% vs. 38%); physicians' screening rates showed no difference between groups.

The authors note that nearly half the patients for whom colonoscopy was ordered never had the procedure, thus underscoring "the need for more effective communication with patients." Similarly, about half the physicians considered the electronic reminders "ineffective."

LINK(S):

Archives of Internal Medicine article (Free abstract; full text requires subscription)