Hospital leverages radiology waiting areas to boost cancer screening rates
A safety-net hospital has sought to leverage radiology waiting areas to help boost cancer screening rates, according to new research published in Academic Radiology.
Much has been written about poor lung cancer imaging uptake, with confusing eligibility criteria one possible motivator. Researchers with the Boston Medical Center recently experimented with distributing questionnaires to patients while they wait for their imaging appointments, hoping to identify more individuals who are eligible for screening but not yet identified.
They’ve had some success in getting patients to fill out the survey, thought it hasn’t necessarily translated to more scans.
“The limited post-notification uptake observed highlights the complexity of translating eligibility identification into completed screenings and underscores the importance of broader, system-level interventions,” radiologist Christian Ashby-Padial, MD, and colleagues wrote Jan. 10. “These findings provide a foundation for future comparative studies aimed at evaluating effectiveness and refining scalable, equity-focused approaches to improve lung cancer screening participation.”
Researchers administered the voluntary, multi-language survey over an 18-month period between 2021 and 2022. It assessed factors including patient demographics, lung cancer risk and eligibility, and family history. Out of a total of 54,000 surveys distributed, patients filled out nearly 6,200, for a response rate of 11%. About 6% of respondents (or 373 total) self-identified as eligible for lung cancer screening based on U.S. Preventive Services Task Force criteria.
However, after notifying primary care providers about eligibility, only 9% of patients (or 19 out of 202) had baseline LCS exams ordered. Researchers noted that these proportions reflect “feasibility/process and are not evidence of effectiveness.”
“This low uptake highlights the challenges of LCS and may reflect patient, healthcare provider and systems-level barriers faced by patients in safety-net hospitals, such as financial constraints and limited healthcare access,” they wrote.
Read much more about the study, including potential limitations, in the official journal of the Association of Academic Radiology here.
Marty Stempniak has covered healthcare since 2012, with his byline appearing in the American Hospital Association's member magazine, Modern Healthcare and McKnight's. Prior to that, he wrote about village government and local business for his hometown newspaper in Oak Park, Illinois. He won a Peter Lisagor and Gold EXCEL awards in 2017 for his coverage of the opioid epidemic.