In October 2021, California Governor Gavin Newsom signed a bill into law to remove out of pocket costs for Californians needing a colonoscopy after an abnormal non-invasive screening test. Californias gained coverage for the full spectrum of colorectal cancer screening, including the necessary colonoscopy following an abnormal non-invasive screening test.  

In addition, our Catalyst grantees in California successfully worked to get colorectal cancer screening added as a quality measure for the Centers for Medicaid and Medicare Services (CMS) Adult Core Set. This means that more states will now measure colorectal cancer screening rates in their Medicaid program. This is important because as the saying goes, “what gets measured, gets improved.”  

*Overall Percentage of Adults Who Are Up to Date with Colorectal Cancer Screening

California Grantees 

California Colorectal Cancer Screening Coverage

California state law requires, beginning January 1, 2022, that every health plan issued in the state to cover without any cost sharing a colorectal cancer screening test assigned either a grade of A or a grade of B by the United States Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF). This includes high-sensitivity guaiac fecal occult blood test (gFOBT), fecal immunochemical test (FIT), stool DNA test (such as Cologuard), colonoscopy, CT colonography, and flexible sigmoidoscopy. 

If a patient receives an abnormal result on a non-invasive colorectal cancer screening test, the required colonoscopy must also be covered without cost sharing for the patient.