A patient navigator who speaks the patient’s language and has time to spend answering questions and removing barriers makes a difference in whether that patient will get colorectal screening.

A study in Boston randomly assigned community patient navigators to half of a diverse group of low-income patients who were behind in colorectal cancer screening.  Compared to patients who received usual health care, patients who got help from a patient navigator were more likely to complete screening, have a colonoscopy, and have polyps detected and removed. Read the rest of this entry »