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Colorectal Cancer Is an Ambulatory Care Sensitive Condition

Thomas Jefferson University, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Requests for reprints: Mona Sarfaty, Thomas Jefferson University, 1015 Walnut Avenue, Curtis 115, Philadelphia, PA 19107. Phone: 215-955-2797; Fax: 215-923-7583. E-mail: mona.sarfaty{at}jefferson.edu

Ambulatory Care Sensitive Conditions (ACSC) are conditions where the provision of ambulatory care may affect the probability of hospitalization or the severity of the disease at the time of hospitalization. Population-based measurement of ACSCs can focus attention on aspects of ambulatory care that merit strengthening to improve access, quality, or patient compliance to achieve better outcomes and reduce costs. If colorectal cancer was added to the list of ACSCs, it would highlight the continuum of care that starts in the ambulatory setting and includes risk assessment as well as access to colonoscopy, which is the only means of adenoma removal after a positive screen. Each link in the continuum of care can increase or reduce the rates of colorectal cancer incidence and mortality at the local and national levels. Employing colorectal cancer as an ACSC at the hospital level or state level can provoke policy makers and managers to examine these links for gaps and weaknesses that merit attention and may be addressed. (Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev 2008;17(10):2531–5)

Commentary

Androgen and Prostate Cancer: Is the Hypothesis Dead?

Ann W. Hsing, Lisa W. Chu, and Frank Z. Stanczyk
Cancer Epidemiol. Biomarkers Prev. 2008 17: 2525-2530. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]