A clinical trial involving 44 US primary care practices and 11,980 patients was conducted to enhance follow-up on abnormal cancer screenings, focusing on breast, cervical, colorectal, and lung cancers. Patients were divided into four groups: usual care, electronic health record (EHR) reminders, EHR reminders with outreach, and EHR reminders with outreach and navigation.

The researchers of the study found that the group with EHR reminders, outreach, and navigation had the highest follow-up rate (31.4%) within 120 days, outperforming the usual care group. This indicates that combining EHR reminders and patient outreach significantly improves timely follow-up of abnormal cancer screenings.

Reference: Atlas SJ, Tosteson ANA, Wright A, et al. A Multilevel Primary Care Intervention to Improve Follow-Up of Overdue Abnormal Cancer Screening Test Results: A Cluster Randomized Clinical Trial. JAMA. 2023;330(14):1348-1358. doi: 10.1001/jama.2023.18755.