The University of Virginia Cancer Center has partnered with Central Virginia Health Services to offer free colorectal cancer screenings to uninsured patients in Central Virginia.
The partnership’s goal is to improve access to colorectal cancer screenings in Virginia and get more people screened. In Virginia, only 70.8% of eligible residents are up to date on their screenings.
Colorectal cancer is the third leading cause of death among men and women. Of the new cases of colorectal cancer reported each year, 10.5% occur in individuals under 50 years of age. According to the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force, colorectal cancer diagnoses among Americans ages 40 to 49 have increased by almost 15%. Based on these findings, the task force updated the colorectal cancer screening guidelines in 2021, reducing the age for starting screenings for most Americans from 50 to 45. Read More >