Number of Medicare Patients Having Colonoscopies Soars

In the year since Medicare began paying for colonoscopies for all beneficiaries over agen 50, the number of people having the screening test for colorectal cancer has soared and several month waits have become common.

Congress ordered Medicare to pay for colonoscopy screening for everyone over 50 effective July 1, 2001, and the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services reported that 46,599 Medicare beneficiaries of average risk -- those 50 or older -- took advantage of this to have colonoscopies in the first six months of the program.

The Center reported that the number of high-risk patients who had colonoscopies paid for by Medicare in 2001 rose to 98,428 from 78,215 the previous year.

As a result, Dr. Michael Pignone, an assistant professor of medicine at the University of North Carolina, told the New York Times that the average waiting time for an appointment for a colonoscopy was now three to six months.

Dr. Mark Pochapin, a gastroenterologist at New York Presbyterian, said the volume of proceedures he was performing and the wait for colonoscopies were up about 25 percent.

Other sources: Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services, New York Times