Evaluating screening colonoscopy quality in an uninsured urban population following patient navigation

Patient navigation (PN) increases screening colonoscopy completion in minority and uninsured populations. However, colonoscopy quality is under-reported in the setting of PN and quality indicators have often failed to meet benchmark standards. This study investigated screening colonoscopy quality indicators after year-one of a PN initiative targeting the medically uninsured. This was a retrospective analysis of 296 outpatient screening colonoscopies. Patients were 45 to 75 years of age with no history of bowel cancer, inflammatory bowel disease, or colorectal surgery. The screening colonoscopy quality indicators: adenoma detection rate (ADR), cecal intubation rate (CIR), and bowel preparation quality were compared in 89 uninsured Federally Qualified Health Center (FQHC) patients who received PN and 207 University Hospital patients who received usual care. The FQHC PN and University Hospital cohorts were similar in female sex (69% vs. 70%; p = 0.861) and African American race (61% vs. 61%; p = 0.920). The FQHC PN cohort was younger (57 years vs. 60 years; p < 0.001). There was no difference in ADR (33% vs. 32%; p = 0.971) or CIR (96% vs. 95%; p = 0.900) comparing the FQHC PN and University Hospital cohorts. The FQHC PN patients had a greater likelihood of an optimal bowel preparation on multivariate logistic regression (odds ratio 4.17; 95% confidence interval 1.07 to 16.20). Uninsured FQHC patients who received PN were observed to have intra-procedure quality indicators that exceeded bench-mark standards for high-quality screening colonoscopy and were equivalent to those observed in an insured University Hospital patient population.