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Expanding Access to Colon Cancer Care
Expanding Access to Colon Cancer Care
by Jonathan S. Feinberg
Regular screening for colon cancer is the key to early detection and treatment, but routine care can be hard to access for individuals without health insurance. Clinics that serve uninsured individuals—such as El Centro de Corazόn, a Federally Qualified Health Center based in Houston’s East End—often cannot offer services like colonoscopy that are available in the Texas Medical Center.
To help expand access to specialized GI care, including colon cancer screening, in the greater Houston community, Bincy P. Abraham, MD, Fondren Distinguished Professor in Inflammatory Bowel Disease and Program Director of the Gastroenterology Fellowship Program at the Underwood Center, has forged a new partnership between Houston Methodist and El Centro. Through this partnership, established in October 2022, Underwood faculty and GI fellows visit El Centro once a month to provide GI specialty care.
Bincy P. Abraham, MD
GI Fellows Drs. Michelle Jones-Pauley and Daniel Burkholder provide GI specialty care at El Centro de Corazon.
For colon cancer screening, primary care physicians at El Centro can provide uninsured patients with the routine care and regular follow-up needed to detect problems early, and they can prescribe Cologuard® or FIT tests for patients with average risk for cancer. For patients with positive Cologuard® or FIT tests, GI specialists from the Underwood Center offer more extensive screening through colonoscopy at Houston Methodist facilities in the Medical Center.
Houston Methodist even provides transportation for these patients to eliminate a key barrier to their care. In addition to expanding access to vital healthcare services, Dr. Abraham says that the partnership with El Centro gives trainees in the GI Fellowship Program valuable experience working in a community clinic. “The fellows who have visited El Centro so far have really enjoyed the experience,” Dr. Abraham says. “It’s been really rewarding to give back to the community.”