American Statistical Association New York City Metropolitan Area Chapter Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center Biostatistics Seminar

Colorectal cancer screening is recommended in the average risk population to begin at age 50. For those 65 and older, Medicare provides financial coverage for colorectal cancer screening. Since 2001, this has included colonoscopy. For those under 65, private insurance or Medicaid is the primary provider. This talk addresses two questions. The first is whether beginning screening at age 50, as recommended, provides net cost savings to Medicare as well as to all age groups. The second question is given that colorectal cancer screening is recommended and increasing in acceptance, what is the endoscopy capacity required to have a nationwide screening program for colorectal cancer for those age 50 and older. We use the population based microsimulation model (MISCAN) from the Cancer Intervention and Surveillance Modeling Network (CISNET) to address both of these questions. Issues of how to present the costs changes over time to policy makers will be discussed.