The strongest predictor of colorectal cancer screening participation may be a specific, personalized communication from a patient’s own healthcare provider, according to a study led by researchers at Renton, Wash.-based Providence and published April 24 in Cancer Medicine.
“We thought that maybe the incidence in underserved communities of low screening may purely be related to distrust in the healthcare system,” Anton Bilchik, MD, PhD, chief of general surgery and director of the gastrointestinal and hepatobiliary program at Providence, told Becker’s. “But what this study found, which I found particularly interesting and important to healthcare systems, is that providers have enormous importance and relevance even in underserved communities.”
After surveying 1,798 patients in racially diverse communities, researchers found that one of the highest-leverage interventions for cancer screening is provider communication. Specifically, making screening messages feel like they are coming from a physician who knows the patient, not from a marketing department.
“We all get these generic emails: get your colonoscopy, get your mammogram. Most times, you either don’t read them or you hit delete,” Dr. Bilchik said. “If that communication can be done using a provider’s name in some capacity, it’s going to resonate.”
Providence has already moved to act on the findings. Following the study, the health system implemented MyChart outreach to eligible patients tailored to appear as though it came directly from a physician, explaining the specific reasons the patient qualified for screening and offering clear pathways to schedule it.
When researchers raised the issue with primary care leaders, many said their operational capacity had been stretched to accommodate more patients since the recommended colorectal cancer screening age was lowered from 50 to 45.
An innovative solution addressed that concern directly: utilizing AI-enabled personalization tools to produce physician-attributed messages at scale without requiring physicians to generate them individually.
“What you’re saying is, ‘We’re going to send out personalized messages to all of your patients. They’re going to be coming from you, but you won’t have to lift a finger,'” Dr. Bilchik said. “That’s the key thing.”
We’ve had really great responses from physicians of, ‘Yes, that sounds great. Let’s move that forward,'” Staci Wendt, PhD, research director at Providence’s Health Research Accelerator, told Becker’s. “It’s a win-win for everyone.”
Personalized provider messaging, Dr. Wendt added, can only reach patients who are already in the system. Different outreach and communication strategies are required to engage patients who are not already part of a healthcare system, the study found.
Providence has committed to maintaining a consistent presence in the communities it serves, including appearances by Dr. Bilchik at community meetings to discuss what he is seeing clinically.
“There is a historical gap here where community members, especially members of color, have distrust in health systems,” Dr. Wendt said. “That’s one of the reasons why, for this project, we went to the community members to understand what we were missing and then listened to them in terms of the strategies that we implemented.”
For patients entirely outside the health system, Dr. Bilchik said the voices of community leaders can help address screening gaps.
“Community leaders play an enormously important role in terms of telling people that colon cancer is extremely prevalent, that it’s preventable and it won’t just impact people in their 70s, but [their] kids and grandkids,” he said.
Read the full Providence study here.
At the Becker's Perioperative Summit, taking place September 14–15 in Chicago, perioperative leaders and healthcare executives will focus on improving operating room efficiency, enhancing patient safety, optimizing staffing and driving innovation across surgical services. Apply for complimentary registration now.
