Cancer Screening: Reducing Client Out-of-Pocket Costs — Colorectal Cancer
Findings and Recommendations
The Community Preventive Services Task Force (CPSTF) finds insufficient evidence to determine the effectiveness of reducing out-of-pocket costs in increasing screening for cervical cancer because too few studies were identified. The consistent favorable results for interventions that reduce costs for breast cancer screening and several other preventive services suggest that such interventions are likely to be effective for increasing cervical cancer screening as well.
The full CPSTF Finding and Rationale Statement and supporting documents for Cancer Screening: Reducing Client Out-of-Pocket Costs — Colorectal Cancer are available in The Community Guide Collection on CDC Stacks.
Intervention
Interventions to reduce client out-of-pocket costs attempt to minimize or remove economic barriers that make it difficult for clients to access cancer screening services. Costs can be reduced through a variety of approaches, including vouchers, reimbursements, reduction in co-pays, or adjustments in federal or state insurance coverage. Efforts to reduce client costs may be combined with measures to provide client education, information about program availability, or measures to reduce structural barriers.
About The Systematic Review
The CPSTF finding is based on evidence from a Community Guide systematic review published in 2008 (Baron et al., 0 studies, search period 1966-2004) combined with more recent evidence (0 studies, search period 2004-2008).
Study Characteristics
No studies qualified for the review.
Summary of Results
No studies qualified for the review.
Summary of Economic Evidence
An economic review of this intervention was not conducted because CPSTF did not have enough information to determine if the intervention works.
Applicability
While there is insufficient evidence to determine effectiveness of this intervention in increasing screening for colorectal cancer, consistently favorable results for interventions that reduce costs for breast cancer screening and several other preventive services suggest that such interventions are likely to be effective for increasing colorectal cancer screening as well.
Evidence Gaps
The following outlines evidence gaps for reducing client out-of-pocket costs to increase breast, cervical, or colorectal cancer screening.
- Are interventions effective for promoting colorectal cancer screening with methods other than FOBT?
- Are interventions to promote colorectal cancer screening equally effective when addressing colorectal cancer screening more generally, as when specific to one type of test?
- What are the incremental effects of adding intervention components to other interventions?
- What influence do newer methods of communication (e.g., the Internet, e-mail, social media, automated interactive voice response, texting) have on intervention effectiveness?
- What is the influence of health system factors on intervention effectiveness?
Implementation Considerations and Resources
CPSTF did not have enough evidence to determine whether the intervention is or is not effective. This does not mean that the intervention does not work, but rather that additional research is needed to determine whether or not the intervention is effective.