Five Thirty Eight’s Katherine Hobson has a good piece on colorectal cancer screening and the cost control challenge:
The United States Preventive Services Task Force says the net benefit for screening adults age 50-75 is “substantial,” adding that colorectal cancer is the second-leading cause of cancer death in the country. But as of 2012, just 65 percent of eligible adults were being screened as recommended, and almost 28 percent had never been screened….Included on the list are two cheap, at-home poop tests intended to be done annually: the guaiac-based fecal occult blood test (gFOBT) and a more sensitive test called the fecal immunochemical test, or FIT….Of the two, Richard Wender, a physician and chief cancer control officer of the American Cancer Society, said the FIT is preferable, both because it’s more accurate and because it requires only one poop sample and no changes in diet.3 It costs about $25 or less and when done every year, theUSPSTF’s models estimate, it will avert 20-23 deaths from colorectal cancer per 1,000 people screened….
Colonoscopy is the most popular test in the U.S. In addition to its polyp-removing ability, if you have a negative test, you don’t have to come back for another 10 years. 4 ….Based on the available evidence and its modeling, the USPSTF estimates it reduces deaths from colorectal cancer by 22-24 per 1,000 people screened….It’s expensive, running upward of $1,000. (The test is covered without cost sharing as preventive care under the Affordable Care Act.)
Besides being a good opportunity to embed one of my favorite Scrubs scenes below the fold, why is this important?
This illustrates cost saving challenges.