A Comparison between a Mail Only Outreach and a Mail Outreach with Automated and Live Phone Call Reminders for Increasing Colorectal Cancer Screening
Abstract
Colorectal cancer is a leading cause of cancer related deaths in United States for both men and women. Despite the availability of various screening tests, the screening rate remains low, especially among the Hispanic population. This randomized pragmatic trial study compares the effectiveness of a combination of mailed package, including a pre-paid fecal immunochemical testing (FIT) kit, with automated and live phone call reminders to mailed package only. The control group received only mailed packages, whereas the intervention group received automated and live phone calls after the mail delivery. Patient data were collected from the electronic healthcare record from a primary care clinic within a federally qualified health center in Orange County, CA. Our results showed that the intervention group had a significantly more FIT returns than the control group. The results also suggested that many patients may not be available through phone calls.