A Multilevel Primary Care Intervention to Improve Follow-Up of Overdue Abnormal Cancer Screening Test Results A Cluster Randomized Clinical Trial

https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/fullarticle/2810508?guestAccessKey=e7a712fb-49f3-4095-97bf-4d9135a259e9&utm_term=101023&utm_campaign=ftm_links&utm_medium=referral&_hsmi=277803236&_hsenc=p2ANqtz-9gy34UUVmIlzmhLy_1tZsjoDcRhd87dRjhrGUA_CDy5-Rge9Bx8Mop_F56sTgsgP0U_n6VS9gi4CDbUjmu5iATLZPzYA&utm_content=tfl&utm_source=For_The_Media After abnormal cancer screening results, more than an EHR reminder brought more patients back in For preventive cancer screening to work, patients must come back if those tests show abnormal results. A new study in JAMA analyzed what approaches worked best to bring overdue patients back to their primary care doctors — who ordered the tests — within four months of receiving abnormal results. Among nearly 12,000 patients, a combination of electronic health record reminders, letters, and phone calls were more successful than EHR reminders alone in bringing patients back in after abnormal results for breast, cervical, colorectal, and lung cancer. Still, the more intensive strategies worked for only about 31% of patients, which was better than the 21% of patients who got only EHR reminders. “Patient factors may include need for education about the meaning of the test results, what follow-up procedures involve, and assessing patient preferences,” the authors write. “Practitioner factors such as knowledge of guidelines and improved access to prior test results may also be important.”