A Multimodal Intervention to Promote Mammography and Colorectal Cancer Screening in a Safety-Net Practice

Background There are limited data regarding interventions designed to improve cancer screening rates in safety-net practices with "real world" patients. Objective To examine the impact of a multimodal intervention on mammography and colorectal cancer (CRC) screening rates in a safety-net practice caring for under-served patients. Methods At an inner-city family medicine practice, all patients past due for mammography or CRC screening were assigned to receive or not receive a screening promotion intervention based on their medical record number. The 12-month intervention included outreach to patients (tailored letters, automated and personal phone calls) and point-of-care patient and clinician prompts. The trial was registered at clinicaltrials.gov, NCT00818857. Results We enrolled 469 participants aged 40 to 74 years, including 28% African Americans, 5% Latinos, 25% with Medicaid, and 10% without any form of insurance. Participants in the intervention group showed statistically significantly higher rates of cancer screening; rates were 41 % vs 16.8% for mammography and 28.8% vs 10% for CRC screening. These findings were confirmed in multivariable analysis. Similar relative improvements in screening were seen across race, ethnicity, socioeconomic status, and insurance groups. Discussion A multimodal intervention shows promise for improving rates of mammography and colorectal cancer screening within a safety-net practice. Further study will identify the most cost-effective components of the intervention.