S0289 Utilization of Telemedicine for Colorectal Cancer Outreach During the COVID-19 Pandemic: COLOVID-19

INTRODUCTION: The United States is currently experiencing an unprecedented outbreak of the coronavirus During the peak phase of the pandemic in order to conserve resources and minimize risk of transmission, many elective screening colonoscopies were cancelled The quality team at our institute developed an educational program via telemedicine and internet-"COLorectal Outreach Via Internet and Dial-in-19 (COLOVID-19)" utilizing patient resources provided by ACG and ASGE Our aim was to continue our colorectal cancer screening outreach initiative and provide an avenue for patients to reschedule screening colonoscopies METHODS: A document about colon cancer screening with instructions for rescheduling procedures was prepared by a group of physicians and nurses (Figure 1) A list of cancelled screening colonoscopies was generated by the practice manager from March 23 to May 15, 2020 Nurses, fellows, physicians and practice staff provided outreach to patients whose screening colonoscopy was rescheduled The checklist was shared as part of the patient's online electronic health record (EHR) which allowed for two way conversation between the medical provider and patient Any patients not reached via EHR received a telephone call and the check- list was also mailed RESULTS: Figure 2 describes the algorithm of our workflow We reached out to 871 patients whose screening colonoscopies were cancelled from March 23 to May 15, 2020 274 patients did not have access to online EHR chart and received the COLOVID-19 point checklist via mail and telephone call The remaining patients (n = 597) received the list via EHR and 286 patients confirmed receipt of the checklist via the EHR Patients who did not confirm receipt of the checklist (n = 311) were contacted via telephone and 213 patients had the checklist mailed to them In summary 44 1% of the patients received the COLOVID-19 via internet and 55 9% via telephone and mail Figure 3 shows the results and patient comments CONCLUSION: We developed the COLOVID-19 point checklist to ensure a continuum of education and communication with respect to colorectal cancer awareness and prevention during the time of the COVID-19 pandemic Through this process, patients had adequate follow-up for cancelled screening colonoscopies and were not lost to follow-up Patients expressed positive feedback and all procedures have been rescheduled to date