We know that colon cancer is a condition that can be prevented,
and if we systematically and effectively screen for these
pre-cancerous polyps, removing them,
we can prevent colon cancer.
TR is the singular exceptional driving force
behind our success.
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Colorectal cancer is the second leading cause of cancer death
among men and women, both nationally and within
Kaiser Permanente.
Before we started, the screening program consisted of
flexible sigmoidoscopy primarily by referral from
primary care doctors.
TR's challenge was to try to figure out a way to reach
all our members as quickly as possible with
a screening modality that worked for everybody.
In 2004, he was named the clinical lead for screening for
colon cancer and looked around and realized in England,
they were starting the program of home screening.
So we had kind of a framework for how to do the work.
The laboratory medicine people got wind of this very early and
said we absolutely need a test that's automated that can be run
on large volumes repeatedly and reliably.
And then we worked with a vendor and we had to
do a lot of improvement on that.
There was the outreach effort which was the mailings
and trying to reach as many members as we could
that were initially at the age of 60 to 69.
And then we broadened it to 50 to 75.
We gradually expanded the population.
In 2007, we were mailing out to the entire region.
People are scared of screening.
They don't want to have to come in.
With the FIT kit, it's mailed to your house.
It's easy to do. It's not intimidating.
We leverage the electronic record.
That's how we identify who's due every year for screening.
We leverage our integrated model.
So primary care and specialty care and laboratory services,
we're all working together.
The quality and operations support is providing oversight.
Technology group has built Prompt which has been a huge
plus for us in terms of letting everyone know where people are
on the screening.
In addition to being sent the kits,
they receive a series of reminders.
The reminders are done by mail, by telephone.
...with a reminder to please return your FIT kit
that screens for colon cancer.
When they go to the doctor's office,
their medical assistant or the physician themselves will
remind them, do your kit.
We mail out about 15,000 FIT kits every week.
The lab processes between 3- and 5,000 FIT kits a day.
We've moved our screening rate from 35 percent
to almost 80 percent.
What's most astounding with respect to this work is that
we've reduced the incidents of colon cancer by
about 25 percent.
So as physicians, we're lucky if we can say we've saved
a life here, a life there.
I think we can accurately say that Dr. Levin has saved
hundreds, if not thousands of lives by diagnosing
colon cancer early.
I was coming to Kaiser Permanente
on October of 2016 to get my flu shot.
The lady that was behind the counter,
she noticed that I just turned 50,
so she offered me to do the FIT test because it would be
an easy thing to do at home.
I got the FIT kit on the mail and I did the test,
and it was very simple to do it.
And I mail it out to Kaiser Permanente.
The test was positive and I had to call in and go in
for a colonoscopy.
And that's when I met Dr. Levin because he was the one who
performed the colonoscopy.
Within a couple of seconds of starting his procedure,
lo and behold there was a cancer,
you know, right in the lower part of his colon.
It is truly groundbreaking and fits with our mission
of preventative care at Kaiser Permanente.
I'm glad that something so simple can make such a big
difference on somebody's life and hopefully
it's gonna do the same thing for more people.
Thanks to Dr. Levin and Kaiser Permanente,
we can attack the problem before it becomes incurable.
Thanks to the test, I'm doing great.
I'm living a normal life with my wife, my kids,
and I'm gonna be able to grow old with my wife
and see my kids grow.
I owe my life to the test.
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