Colorectal screening up, racial disparity down in NYC

Through the efforts of a coalition of New York City health officials in 2003, colon cancer screening rates there rose dramatically, and by 2014 there were no longer difference in screening rates by race or ethnicity. "Nationally colon cancer screening rates have been increasing and mortality has been decreasing, but the overall decline in mortality is not equal by race," said Lina Jandorf of the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York, senior author of a publication detailing the success of the NYC program. Medicare began to cover colonoscopy screening for men and women of average risk in 2001.