 |
|
Medicare Policy and Colorectal Cancer Screening
Will Changing Access Change Outcomes?
Arden M. Morris, MD, MPH
JAMA. 2006;296:2855-2856.
|
|
| Since this article does not have an abstract, we have provided the first 150 words of the full text and any section headings. |
|
|
|
Starting in July 2001, the Medicare Benefits and Improvement Act expanded Medicare coverage to include colonoscopy for colorectal cancer screening among average-risk beneficiaries older than 50 years.1 This legislation has several important implications. From a clinical standpoint, colonoscopy is the most sensitive test available for diagnosis of early stage, curable colorectal neoplasms. Colonoscopy is also the only cancer screening test that is potentially preventive because it permits removal of premalignant lesions. Some have related the decrease in colorectal cancer incidence and mortality to screening of the distal colon (such as barium enema and sigmoidoscopy)2; colonoscopic screening of the entire colon is intended to improve this further by addressing right-sided lesions.
From a policy standpoint, the expansion in Medicare coverage involved only fee-for-service (FFS) beneficiaries and not those enrolled in Medicare health maintenance organization (HMO) plans. Traditionally disadvantaged subgroups are less likely to be enrolled . . . [Full Text of this Article]
Author Affiliations: Division of Colorectal Surgery, Department of Surgery, and Michigan Surgical Collaborative for Outcomes Research and Evaluation, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.
RELATED ARTICLE
Relation Between Medicare Screening Reimbursement and Stage at Diagnosis for Older Patients With Colon Cancer
Cary P. Gross, Martin S. Andersen, Harlan M. Krumholz, Gail J. McAvay, Deborah Proctor, and Mary E. Tinetti
JAMA. 2006;296(23):2815-2822.
ABSTRACT
| FULL TEXT
|
