Cost of Precolonoscopy Office Visits in the U.S.

Open-access endoscopy, in which healthier patients are scheduled directly into endoscopy units without prior office consultation, seems to be currently common in the U.S., but the actual prevalence is unknown.

In an analysis of commercial claims data from 2010 through 2013, 29.4% of all colonoscopy patients had a precolonoscopy office visit. In an attempt to increase the percentage of office visits directly related to colonoscopy, investigators excluded records with diagnosis codes for colon cancer and inflammatory bowel disease in the preceding 12 months and gastroenterology office visits between 6 weeks and 1 year prior to colonoscopy.

Patients with comorbidities were more likely to have a precolonoscopy office visit, but 66% of all patient…