Advances in Colorectal Cancer Screening Strategies in Clinical Practice - Episode 8
Coordinating Care After Abnormal Colorectal Cancer Results
Positive FIT/Cologuard? See why follow-up colonoscopy is often $0 and how navigation, rides, and time-off support boost screening.
In ‘Coordinating Care After Abnormal Colorectal Cancer Screening Results,’ the expert faculty focus on the critical importance of timely follow-up after a positive colorectal cancer screening test. The speakers discuss real-world challenges in referring patients to gastroenterology, including specialist availability and scheduling delays, while emphasizing that diagnostic colonoscopy should ideally occur within six months. They highlight the responsibility of primary care clinicians to “close the loop” and ensure completion of colonoscopy, using tools such as telehealth and proactive follow-up. The conversation also clarifies appropriate next steps after positive tests, including when upper endoscopy is or is not indicated and how to interpret high-quality prior colonoscopy results. Finally, the faculty stress that symptomatic patients and those with iron deficiency anemia require diagnostic evaluation rather than screening tests, reinforcing a risk-based and patient-centered approach to care.
Our next episode, ‘Key Takeaways in Colorectal Cancer Screening,’ the expert faculty reinforce that colorectal cancer screening should be individualized based on risk, symptoms, and patient preference, with colonoscopy reserved for high-risk or symptomatic patients and noninvasive options appropriate for average-risk individuals. The discussion emphasizes shared decision-making, appropriate use of emerging technologies, and the importance of increasing screening rates to reduce both mortality and morbidity from colorectal cancer.
