Translation of Colorectal Cancer Screening Guidelines to Practice: A System Intervention

Objectives: 1.To implement an electronic CRC screening event notification system intervention to improve complete evaluation of patients with a positive FOBT at four of eight VAMCs randomized to this intervention vs usual care. 2.To conduct a qualitative evaluation to identify implementation barriers and facilitators, and to guide modifications of the CRC-ENS. 3.To conduct an outcome evaluation to determine the effectiveness of the intervention to: a. increase the proportion of patients with a positive FOBT receiving CDE. b. reduce the time-lag between notification of a positive FOBT result and scheduling of a follow-up endoscopic procedure. 4. To improve patient compliance with follow-up recommendations through combined scheduling. Methods: The CRC-ENS intervention employs a relatively simple alteration to the current electronic mechanism for notifying the primary care provider (PCP) of when a positive FOBT is recorded. With the CRC-ENS, this notification will be forwarded to the gastroenterology (GI) clinic as well as the PCP. This notification at the GI clinic will set off a cascade of events that would normally only be triggered by a consult request from the PCP. In this translation study, eight participating VHA sites will be randomly assigned to either the CRC-ENS intervention or usual care group. The proposed project will take two years to complete. During the first project year, the participating sites will be recruited and randomized. Pre-intervention change of awareness strategies will be initiated at all intervention sites. The CRC-ENS intervention will be implemented in the second project year, and formative evaluation (including two sets of focus groups) will be carried out throughout the intervention period. Post-intervention data collection, outcome evaluation and dissemination of results will be carried out in months 18-24.