Increasing Primary Care Physician Colorectal Cancer Screening Rates

The purpose of the study is to determine if a Web-based intervention increases physician rates of colorectal cancer recommendation rates in a group of physicians participating in the American Board of Internal Medicine's Maintenance of Certification Program. This study will also compare the content of practice improvement plans submitted by the diplomats in each study arm to determine the components of the plans that are associated with colorectal cancer rates.

Study Overview

• Status: Completed
• Conditions: Colorectal Cancer Screening
• Intervention / Treatment: Behavioral: eToolbox; Behavioral: no link to eToolbox

Detailed Description

Colorectal cancer is the 2nd leading cause of cancer deaths in the U.S. Although colorectal cancer screening (CRCS) is effective, cost-effective and consistently recommended by clinical practice guidelines, only 57.3% of the adults over 50 years have been screened within the recommended interval. Preliminary research conducted by this PI demonstrates that approximately 90% of patients who have not had CRCS report that a doctors recommendation would motivate them to undergo screening. However, research also shows that physicians do not consistently recommend CRCS to each eligible patient. In this study the barriers of and facilitators to physician recommendation of CRCS are tested in the to proposed randomized controlled trial. The trial will pilot test an interactive, multifaceted, Web-based intervention (eToolbox) to increase primary care physician rates of CRCS. This application innovatively proposes to pilot test the eToolbox in the setting of the American Board of Internal Medicine (ABIM) Maintenance of Certification process within the Preventive Services Practice Improvement Module, a physician-directed measurement of their performance and quality improvement requirement for board re-certification.

• Study Type: Interventional
• Enrollment (Actual): 134
• Phase: Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

Study Locations

• United States
  • Pennsylvania
    • Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States, 19104
      • University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: Child; Adult; Older Adult
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: Yes
• Genders Eligible for Study: All

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

• ABIM certification and have or plan to enroll in the Maintenance of Certification program
• Primary Care Physicians

Exclusion Criteria:

• Diplomats are not able to participate in this study if they are retired physicians, do not practice a primary care practice or who have already taken part in the study

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

• Primary Purpose: Prevention
• Allocation: Randomized
• Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
• Masking: None (Open Label)

Number of Arms

2

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm	Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: Web-based intervention (eToolbox); This arm will allow diplomats of the American Board of Internal Medicine to complete the Practice Improvement Module that will embed a link to the web-based intervention (eToolbox).	Behavioral: eToolbox; Participants randomized to the Web-based intervention will be automatically routed to a URL that will contain the Web-based intervention.
Active Comparator: Practice Improvement Module; This arm will allow diplomats of the American Board of Internal Medicine to complete the Practice Improvement Module without any link to the Web-based eToolbox.	Behavioral: no link to eToolbox; Participants randomized to the Practice Improvement Module will not be automatically routed to a URL that will contain the Web-based intervention.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Time Frame
Colorectal Cancer Screening Rates	3 years (2012)

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Time Frame
Content of practice improvement plan	3 years (2012)

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: University of Pennsylvania
• Collaborators: National Cancer Institute (NCI); National Institutes of Health (NIH); Department of Health and Human Services
• Investigators: Principal Investigator: Carmen E Guerra, MD, University of Pennsylvania

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start: September 1, 2009
• Primary Completion (Actual): November 1, 2011
• Study Completion (Actual): November 1, 2011

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: August 6, 2009
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: August 7, 2009
• First Posted (Estimate): August 10, 2009

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Estimate): August 17, 2016
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: August 15, 2016
• Last Verified: August 1, 2016

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Keywords: colorectal cancer screening; American Board of Internal Medicine Maintenance of Certification program; Currently enrolled in or plan to enroll in the American Board of Internal Medicine Maintenance of Certification program
• Additional Relevant MeSH Terms: Digestive System Diseases; Neoplasms; Neoplasms by Site; Gastrointestinal Neoplasms; Digestive System Neoplasms; Gastrointestinal Diseases; Colonic Diseases; Intestinal Diseases; Intestinal Neoplasms; Rectal Diseases; Colorectal Neoplasms
• Other Study ID Numbers: K22CA133186-01 (U.S. NIH Grant/Contract)