Rooted in community, driven by purpose 

When barriers to care are broken down, better outcomes aren’t just possible, they're inevitable. 

 

Exact Sciences is committed to closing the colorectal cancer (CRC) screening gap by partnering with organizations to address challenges too big for any one group to solve. Together, we work to create meaningful solutions. One powerful example is our collaboration with the American Society for Gastrointestinal Endoscopy (ASGE), a 17,000-member medical professional society. Exact Sciences and ASGE have teamed up to address the public health challenge of improving access to screening and follow-up care for the uninsured. 

 

Although new laws now require insurers to fully cover follow-up colonoscopy after a positive stool-based test, uninsured patients still face major barriers to access.^1,2 These obstacles include limited patient and provider knowledge, local and community-level disparities, and lack of access.^3,4 

 

In 2023, Exact Sciences awarded ASGE an advocacy grant to support a colorectal cancer screening project in Maryland and Georgia. This multi-year initiative will create a replicable and financially sustainable screening model to boost follow-up colonoscopy rates for underserved populations with positive stool-based tests.  

 

“The ASGE project in Georgia has already shed a bright light on some of the significant challenges and barriers that uninsured and underinsured patients in rural areas face on a day-to-day basis, especially when it comes to the accessibility of health care,” reports ASGE Executive Director and CEO Donald J. Palmisano Jr. “In light of the fact that some 25% of the patients that we have screened for CRC in Georgia to date have had an abnormal stool-based test result, it’s clear that this project has the potential to save a lot of lives.” 

 

This project aims to increase access to CRC screening in underserved populations, reduce the time between abnormal stool tests and follow-up colonoscopies, create a replicable playbook for implementation in diverse community settings, and launch a collaborative pilot program that can be adopted across the country with public and private funding. 

 

Strong partnerships between program sites, providers, navigators, communities, and policy makers are key to developing best practices. In Maryland and Georgia, sites launched CRC screening initiatives using donated Cologuard^® kits to screen 600 patients in each state. Alongside distributing educational materials through community outreach, program teams closely tracked the effectiveness and cost of implementing all protocols and interventions.  

 

“Exact Sciences deserves our genuine thanks and applause for the collaborative spirit, vision and exemplary leadership it has demonstrated in supporting ASGE’s CRC screening project,” says ASGE CRC screening project Advisory Council Chair Jennifer Christie MD, MASGE. “From funding the grant to donating the stool-based tests to offering its expertise, Exact Sciences has been a crucial part of ASGE’s effort to increase CRC screening and follow-up colonoscopy rates for underserved patients across the United States.” 

 

Click here to view a video developed by ASGE, highlighting the CRC screening project in Georgia.  

 

This program shows how Exact Sciences steps up as a trusted collaborator - doing our part to expand access to follow-up colonoscopy and playing a key role in the broader public health effort around screening.