Cancer Screening Office Systems (Cancer SOS)

The Cancer Screening Office Systems (Cancer SOS) intervention is a system to increase cancer screening in primary care offices that treat underserved populations. The program focuses on increasing fecal occult blood tests (FOBTs) for colorectal cancer among all patients, and increasing mammogram and Pap test participation among women. Cancer SOS has two components: kit of materials to facilitate screening referrals and a division of office responsibilities to achieve high screening rates. The kit of materials contains a screening checklist including chart stickers that indicate whether specific cancer-screening tests were due (red), ordered (yellow), or completed (green). Front office staff are responsible for providing eligible patients, between the ages of 50 and 75, with cancer-screening checklists. Nursing staff then review the completed checklist and attach it to the chart, and physicians review the checklist and apply the colored stickers to determine what cancer screening actions were necessary.

The goal of the Cancer SOS provider education program is to increase cancer screening in primary care settings serving disadvantaged populations.

In a pre- and post-test comparison, the intervention significantly increased the odds of mammograms by more than 60% at the 12-month follow-up (odds ratio =1.62, 95% CI 1.07-9.78, p = 0.023). The intervention more than doubled the odds of FOBT screening (OR = 2.5, 95% CI 1.65-4.0, p < 0.0001). The intervention also increased the odds of screening Pap smears by more than 50%, but this increase was not significant (OR = 1.56, 95% CI 0.92-2.64, p = 0.095).