Electronic Medical Record–Based Reminders for Surveillance Colonoscopy

Adherence to recommended follow-up surveillance colonoscopy is vital to preventing excess morbidity and mortality from colorectal cancer. To evaluate the effectiveness of an electronic medical record–based reminder system to achieve scheduled or completed appointments within six months of their recommended dates, researchers at a single center randomized 830 patients (in a 2:1 ratio) who were due for surveillance colonoscopies to receive either the reminder system or standard of care (having the procedure scheduled by the primary care physician or directly by patients, with no standardized reminder system used).

The reminder system operated as follows:

1. An initial appointment generated an order for a follow-up colonoscopy to the EMR.

2. At 4…