Multidisciplinary Lung Cancer Screening Program Achieves Screening Rates Above 70%: Daily Dose

Patient Care brings primary care clinicians a lot of medical news every day—it’s easy to miss an important study. The Daily Dose provides a concise summary of one of the website's leading stories you may not have seen.

On October 16, 2025, we reported on findings from a study published in NEJM Catalyst Innovations in Care Delivery that examined the efficacy of a multidisciplinary, comprehensive lung cancer screening (LCS) program designed at the University of Rochester Medical Center.

The study

The LCS program used a multidisciplinary approach that included educational outreach to practices, population health initiatives integrated into primary care, a coordinated recall process for annual screening and abnormal results, and a centralized program providing consultative support. The program incorporated a patient registry, electronic health record prompts, patient navigators, and a dedicated outreach team. Primary care clinician engagement and support from radiology and pulmonary consultants were identified as essential components.

Researchers enrolled patients aged 50 to 80 years who met the 2021 US Preventive Services Task Force guidelines for lung cancer screening with annual low-dose computed tomography.

The findings

Results showed that LCS rates increased from 32.8% (2825 of 8620 eligible patients) in March 2022 to 71.6% (7976 of 11 136) in June 2025.

In the April 2025 reporting period, screening rates showed no statistical differences by race (71.5% white vs 70.9% Black; P=0.79), ethnicity (71.5% non-Hispanic vs 70.3% Hispanic; P=0.67), or sex (70.6% women vs 72.1% men; P=0.07). On-time completion of annual LDCT scanning exceeded 94% (7434 of 7895) over the year ending June 2025.

During 2023 and 2024, the program diagnosed 63 cases of lung cancer, with 49 cases (77.8%) identified at an early stage.

Authors' comments

"Engagement of primary care clinicians and support from radiology and pulmonary consultants were essential. Overall, the authors found that a well-coordinated LCS program built on a shared population health infrastructure can elevate LCS rates to levels comparable to other established cancer screening programs, such as those for breast and colon cancer."

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