Improving Rates of Diagnostic Colonoscopy in Native Americans

Colorectal cancer (CRC) is the second-leading cause of cancer death in both men and women in the United States. Compared to national averages, Native Americans (NA) endure a disproportionate burden of CRC incidence and CRC-specific mortality. The long-term goal of this collaboration is to enhance health equity through the reduction of CRC disparities in morbidity, mortality, stage-at-diagnosis, and survival among NA. To do so, the primary focus of these efforts has been to improve processes that increase uptake of home stool screening. The overall objective is to leverage these relationships and infrastructure to now focus on improving rates of timely diagnostic colonoscopy follow up after an abnormal home stool screening.