May 20, 2021; Ellyn Cowan, i2i Director, Informatics & Solution Design; Source: Eric Medina, Altura Centers for Health, Quality Improvement Director
A California FQHC maximizes their i2iTracks® care team huddle to improve colorectal cancer screening rates.
Altura Centers for Health, in Tulare, CA, was awarded a C4 California Colorectal Cancer Coalition grant to improve colorectal cancer screenings in 2017. The goal of this C4 project was to increase colorectal cancer screening rates from 42%, based off 2015 UDS data, to 50% by February 2018. Altura utilized FIT kits, fecal immunochemical test (stool screening), to test for fecal occult blood. These kits were distributed to patients identified on the Care Huddle report as due for this specific lab; 2,783 FIT kits were distributed from March 2017 to February 2018. With the use of i2iTracks, Altura saw an increased rate of colorectal cancer screenings to 55.69%, exceeding the goal of 50%.
Altura has maintained screening rates using i2iTracks and has consistently exceeded the national average of 45.56% in colorectal cancer screenings.
A Successful Workflow
So… how did they do this? How are they consistently a high performer in this area?
Simply, they:
- Maximized the use of the i2iTracks Care Huddle Report by mapping fecal occult blood tests,
- Improved scanning and mapping of colonoscopy reports within NextGen and i2iTracks,
- Provided education to Patient Care Coordinators for FIT kit distribution,
- Empowered and educated patients to take FIT kits for colon health.
The Details of the Process
Colorectal cancer screening was included in daily morning huddle reports, generated from i2iTracks, making the care team aware of patients needing to receive a FIT kit for screening. This empowered the care team to track and manage patients who had visits upcoming and were due for a screening. Altura ensured Patient Care Coordinators were trained on the technique to take samples for the FIT kit as well as properly explain the instructions and importance to patients. Providing patients with better overall education allows them to feel more comfortable with the process and empowers them in their care plan by knowing all the details regarding the risks of colon cancer. Patient Care Coordinators then ordered the lab for colorectal cancer screening, streamlining the process.
A valuable piece of the puzzle for Altura was turning scanned colonoscopies into viable data. The care team created a colonoscopy category within the EHR, and worked with the medical records team on scanning colonoscopy reports from the referred providers. Once the scanned colonoscopy was mapped from the EHR into i2iTracks and able to be reported as structured data, Altura’s screening rate increased 5% overnight.