Colon Cancer Pathways

Pathways program helps the community by doing xyz

The KCP in partnership with District Cancer Councils and the Kentucky Cancer Consortium is implementing a “pathways” program based on a model developed by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality – Innovations Exchange. KCP Regional Cancer Control Specialists works with communities to coordinate outreach services and programs to improve access to colon screening by:

• Promoting community-clinical linkages
• Facilitating communication and coordination across organizations
• Providing education and support in developing effective services and interventions
• Helping reduce barriers and increasing service utilization

Initially the program focused on expanding and enhancing KCPs Pathfinder, a directory of services for each of Kentucky’s 15 Area Development Districts to facilitate service utilization and identify gaps for colon cancer screening. In 2013 KCP created and added a special section in the Pathfinder Directory of Resources for colon cancer screening services.

This past year Regional Cancer Control Specialists held over 200 key informant interviews with a broad range of organizations who worked with low income and low education populations in all of Kentucky’s area development districts. During the interviews they reviewed colon cancer screening services, past screening barriers identified in Kentucky 2012 BRFSS, and identified a prioritized list of screening barriers for this population.

The information from the key informant interviews was shared with District Cancer Councils and priority barriers were identified. KCP will be working with District Cancer Councils, health care providers and the American Cancer Society to develop community clinical linkages using a FIT/FLU strategy for fall 2015.