Preventive & Screening Services

The delivery of clinical preventive and screening services by community health care providers is an important aspect of cancer control. The Health Services and Economics Branch supports a variety of research efforts designed to monitor trends in the use of these services and evaluate the factors that determine the availability of, access to, and effectiveness of delivery of these services.

• The NCI-sponsored HMO Cancer Research Network, a consortium of 14 research organizations affiliated with health maintenance organizations has conducted major research projects on improving eating habits, the delivery of tobacco cessation services, and cervical and breast cancer screening in community-based healthcare delivery systems.
• Using the National Health Interview Survey (NHIS) Cancer Control Topical Module, we work with the National Center for Health Statistics of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to monitor usage levels, trends in use, and determinants of use of cancer screening tests for breast, cervical, colorectal, and prostate cancer. NCI's recently released Cancer Trends Progress Report provides a summary of results on cancer screening from NHIS from 1987 to 2005.
• We also conduct national studies of the healthcare providers and organizations that deliver cancer screening services. The National Survey of Colorectal Cancer Screening Practices, conducted in 2000, surveyed primary care and specialty care physicians who provide colorectal cancer screening procedures. The survey also included a national sample of health plans.
• We coordinate the International Cancer Screening Network (ICSN), a voluntary consortium of researchers from 28 countries that have active population-based screening programs. The ICSN is dedicated to collaborative research aimed at identifying and fostering efficient and effective approaches to cancer control world-wide through population-based screening.

Our bibliography of publications on prevention and screening lists articles that provide detailed results from these and similar studies.