The Effectiveness, Cost-effectiveness, and Budget Impact of Interventions to Improve the Delivery of Cervical Cancer Screening in Puerto Rico.

Cervical cancer incidence is increasing dramatically (2.5% per year) in Puerto Rico (PR), with increased occurrence of regional (1.7% per year) and distant (4.7% per year) stage cancer, which reflects a real increase and indicates missed screening opportunities. Unfortunately, 80% of cervical cancer cases diagnosed in PR occur among low-income women covered by Medicaid or Medicare, who also have a 70% greater likelihood of being diagnosed with cervical cancer. Cervical cancer screening uptake continues to decline in PR, particularly among low-income Medicaid enrollees, mainly seen by government clinics. Barriers to cervical cancer screening in PR are mainly due to personal (lack of transportation, obesity-related embarrassment) and environmental (repeated disaster events that hampered screening uptake and made recovery slow) factors. The absence of evidence on the effectiveness, cost-effectiveness, and budget impact of patient navigators has limited its adoption among government clinics in this US territory. Multicomponent interventions that can address common screening barriers and improve screening participation in clinic-based settings or avert the need for a clinical-based visit could help improve screening uptake and follow-up care. Our preliminary work suggests the feasibility and acceptability of Human Papillomavirus (HPV) self-sampling in PR. We now propose a hybrid type 1 effectiveness-implementation study using a four-arm multi-site randomized controlled trial (RCT) conducted within government OBGYN clinics in PR. We will assess the effectiveness of patient reminders plus patient navigation and HPV self-collection (individually and in combination) compared to patient reminders alone in increasing cervical cancer screening, timely colposcopy, and cervical precancer treatment (Aim 1). The secondary aim will evaluate key implementation outcomes, including patient and provider receptivity, reach, level of implementation and fidelity, and sustainment intentions. We will then develop an open-cohort micro-simulation model to evaluate the population impact, cost-effectiveness, and budget impact of alternative strategies (Aim 2) to inform their potential applicability at delivery organization, community, and territory levels. This study will provide much-needed knowledge that is necessary to successfully facilitate the adoption and sustained integration of optimal strategies that will improve cervical cancer screening participation and reduce magnifying disparities in Puerto Rico.