Investigating interventions for increasing colorectal cancer screening: Insights from a simulation model

We develop a discrete-event-continuous simulation model of colorectal cancer screening in North Carolina to examine the impact of six different interventions on the fraction of eligible patients receiving the clinically recommended screening. We find that demand side interventions alone are less effective than using only supply side interventions or a combination of both; the single most effective intervention is implementing a patient reminder system to reduce the number of no-show patients; and that all interventions studied are subject to significant diminishing returns.