Offering Both Colonoscopy and At-Home Tests Doubled Colorectal Cancer Screening

The rate of colorectal cancer screenings more than doubled when patients were given a choice between which type of screening they wanted—a take-home kit or colonoscopy—compared to those who were only offered the colonoscopy, according to new research led by the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. Facilitated through a community health center in which about half of patients had Medicaid insurance, the study—published in Clinical Gastroenterology and Hepatology—provides insights about how to boost screenings among groups that are typically less likely to have the test.

“Offering the choice of colonoscopy or take-home kits seem to have the advantage of maximizing the rates of colonoscopy—the most effective screening tool—while not overloading individuals with too much of a choice, which could have lowered overall participation,” said the study’s lead author, Shivan Mehta, MD, MBA, MSHP, Penn Medicine’s associate chief innovation officer and an associate professor of Gastroenterology.