Seniors’ access to a screening colonoscopy is at risk and YOU can help!

We need you to continue to add your voice and urge your Representative to support H.R. 4120! Simply submit an Action Alert.

H.R. 4120, the Removing Barriers to Colorectal Cancer Screening Act of 2012, will fix a regulation that requires Medicare beneficiaries to pay coinsurance when their screening colonoscopy involves the removal of a polyp. The current policy can cost patients $100 to $300 and serve as a deterrent to screening.

We need cosponsors for this legislation if it is to pass into law & YOU can help!

When women come in for a mammography, that might be an excellent chance to discuss—and schedule—a screening colonoscopy. In particular, this could help increase colorectal cancer screening among minority women, according to a study reported online by the journal Cancer.

For two years between 2003 and 2005, researchers offered colonoscopies to more than 2,600 women who came to the Breast Examination Center of Harlem—an outreach program serving a mostly black and Hispanic community. All the women were over age 50 with no history of either colorectal cancer or screening. Read the rest of this entry »

Image courtesy of SONY Pictures TV

Did Dr. Oz scare you today?

The chances of your colonoscopy resulting in the made-for-TV near-death experience that Dr. Mehmet Oz detailed in a six-part video series on his show and website are highly unlikely. See, Dr. Oz didn’t have a near-death experience, and his colonoscopy story is very common. So can we cut it out with the hysterics, Dr. Oz? You’re scaring people.

Read the rest of this entry »

No participants in a study of the German colonoscopy screening program who had a clear colonoscopy developed colorectal cancer almost twelve years after their exam.

Advanced adenomas were also reduced significantly. Read the rest of this entry »

Anchor Harry Smith will have a colonoscopy live on the CBS Early Show March 10.  He plans to tell viewers about the procedure while it is happening.

Evening News anchor and managing editor Katie Couric will be with Smith during the colonoscopy and as he prepares for it the night before.

Gastroenterologist Dr. Mark Pochapin will do the procedure at New York-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center. Read the rest of this entry »