| Sumario: | Screening, Early Detection, Genomics Significance & Background: Many potential barriers to cancer screenings exist for people in rural locations. For people with a combustible tobacco use history, practical issues, fear, fatalism, mistrust of healthcare systems, and stigma are common barriers to obtaining a lung cancer screening (Cavers et al., 2022). An analysis of 2022 lung cancer disparities in North Georgia and an electronic medical record (EMR) report of unscreened tobacco users over 50, demonstrated the following common characteristics and potential barriers for receiving lung cancer screenings: rural location, unpartnered, pack year history over 40, and location of physicians. Additionally, combined with the potential patient barriers, rural physician practices are often faced with time constraints and insufficient staff for follow up of lung cancer screenings (Coughlin et al., 2020). Purpose: The two goals of the project were to increase lung cancer screening utilization in rural North Georgia in three counties with higher than Georgia incidence and mortality of lung cancer according to the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) State Cancer Profile of Georgia, and to explore efficient ways to collaborate with and support physician practices in efforts to reach the rural, never screened population with a combustible tobacco use history. Interventions: Never screened patients were identified through the EMR report for each physician. Through a portal or written letter, patients were contacted with information about lung cancer screening and asking for their potential interest for performing a lung cancer screening. After agreeing to participate, the physician was contacted to order the lung cancer screening. A navigator followed and communicated the results of screenings to both the patient and the physician practice. Results: As expected, most of the rural and never screened were men, current combustible tobacco users, and had an average pack year history of 44. One third did not have access and/or utilize the patient portal. On average for each practice, 33% received a screening through the project. Obstacles included 50% that did not respond to three portal messages or letters and the time spent attempting contact with non-responders. Discussion: Utilizing local and state data, leveraging the EMR, and through collaboration, targeted interventions can be successfully delivered to rural populations to increase lung cancer screenings. Assessing preferred communication tools of rural populations may potentially decrease non-responders and improve navigator efficiency in future project work.
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