1. Challenges in Reaching Medicaid and Medicare Enrollees in a Mailed Fecal Immunochemical Test Program.
- Author
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Green, Beverly B., West, Imara I., Baldwin, Laura Mae, Schwartz, Malaika R., Coury, Jennifer, and Coronado, Gloria D.
- Subjects
COLON tumors ,FECAL occult blood tests ,FECES ,IMMUNOCHEMISTRY ,HEALTH insurance ,MEDICAID ,MEDICAL care ,MEDICARE ,POSTAL service ,RECTUM tumors ,SEX distribution ,EVALUATION of human services programs ,DESCRIPTIVE statistics ,STATE health plans ,EARLY detection of cancer - Abstract
BeneFIT was a demonstration project that worked with a Medicaid/Medicare health plan to implement a mailed fecal immunochemical test (FIT) program. The goal was to reach age-eligible enrollees who were due for colorectal cancer (CRC) screening and prompt them to complete a FIT. One health insurance plan collaborated with six federally qualified health centers (FQHCs) in Oregon. Reach was defined as the percent of eligible individuals overdue for CRC screening who were mailed a FIT in 2016. We examined patient-level factors associated with reach, using multivariable log binomial regression and FIT completion rates at 6 months. The health plan identified 3386 age-eligible members overdue for CRC screening. Of these, 2615 (77.2%) were reached (mailed FIT kits) and 771 (22.8%) were not; 478 (14.1%) because they were not considered to be clinic patients and 290 (8.6%) because of mailing issues. Patient-level factors associated with not being reached were: being male, being Medicaid-insured (vs. Medicare), and having no primary care visits (vs. 4+ visits) in the last year. Among all enrollees identified as overdue for CRC screening, FIT completion rates at 6 months were 14.8% overall and 18.5% in the subgroup reached. In a mailed FIT program, a health insurance plan attempted to reach as many enrollees overdue for CRC screening as possible, however 22.8% were not mailed a FIT. Additional efforts are needed to ensure that the hardest to reach enrollees can participate in CRC screening. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Published
- 2020
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