Outcomes
INFLAMMATORY BOWEL DISEASE
Mailed FIT uptake: The primary outcome assessed was mailed FIT uptake (effectiveness) within 60 days of randomization among 45–49-year-olds who were eligible for the intervention. Secondarily, we assessed FIT uptake within 6 months of randomization in this group. The 60-day and 6-month endpoints were established a prioriOverall clinic-level CRC screening: To understand how this intervention might affect overall screening among 45–49-year-olds at this clinic (i.e., an endpoint that might eventually be a required UDS reporting metric by an FQHC), we compared the proportion of patients in this age group who were up-to-date with CRC screening between baseline and 6 months after the mailed FIT intervention at this site. In this observational component of our study, we determined clinic-level CRC screening using an EMR query to assess screening among all patients at this site in the 45–49-year-old age category, including those eligible to receive the mailed FIT intervention and those who were ineligible because of risk factors (such as inflammatory bowel disease) that make colonoscopy the preferred initial screening test. We identified patients meeting this broader eligibility criterion and assessed their screening at two timepoints (baseline, 6-month post-intervention), allowing for patients to move in and out of this cohort (i.e., the total number of patients varied between timepoints). We report the proportion of patients who were current with recommended screening by any CRC screening test, including having had a colonoscopy in the past ten years, sigmoidoscopy, CT colonography or barium enema in the past five years, FIT DNA test in the past three years, or a stool test in the past year, per the clinic’s EMR.