Preventive Cancer Screenings & Early Detection:
Closing Care Gaps Through Proactive Outreach

By Ravinder Chawla, MD

Preventive cancer screening remains one of the most effective strategies for improving patient outcomes while advancing quality performance across our network. Early detection not only saves lives but also reduces the need for more complex and costly interventions later in the disease course. As we continue to focus on population health and value-based care, ensuring that eligible members receive recommended cancer screenings is a shared responsibility across primary care teams, specialists, care managers, and our health plan. 

Two areas deserve particular attention:  

• Colorectal cancer screening continues to be a key quality measure, and eligible patients should be offered appropriate screening options based on current clinical guidelines and individual preferences.  
• Lung cancer screening with low-dose CT should be considered for eligible patients with a significant smoking history who meet current screening criteria.  

Identifying these patients during routine office visits, Annual Wellness Visits, Transitional Care Management visits, and care management encounters creates valuable opportunities to close care gaps before they become missed opportunities. 

Scheduling and Documenting Screenings

Success in preventive screening depends on consistent, proactive workflows. Leveraging EHR registries, health maintenance alerts, gap-in-care reports, and targeted outreach campaigns can help identify eligible members and facilitate timely scheduling. Partnering with care managers and office staff to contact patients before upcoming appointments, coordinating referrals when appropriate, and following up on missed screenings can significantly improve completion rates. Just as important is ensuring that completed screenings, results performed outside the practice, patient refusals, contraindications, or other appropriate exclusions are accurately documented in the medical record. Complete and timely documentation supports continuity of care while ensuring quality measures accurately reflect the care being delivered. 

As we continue to enhance our population health capabilities, data-driven outreach and collaboration between HealthTeam Advantage and our provider partners will play an increasingly important role. Regular review of performance dashboards, identification of screening gaps at the provider and practice level, and timely intervention can help improve both patient outcomes and quality performance. Every interaction with a member represents an opportunity to reinforce the importance of preventive screening and ensure that recommended services are completed. 

Improving preventive care and the overall health of our members remains one of HealthTeam Advantage’s highest priorities. By working together with our provider organizations to strengthen screening workflows, enhance patient outreach, improve documentation, and close care gaps, we can increase early cancer detection, improve quality outcomes, and continue delivering the high-value, patient-centered care our members deserve. 

Dr. Ravinder Chawla is Chief Medical Officer of HealthTeam Advantage.