Overuse of colorectal cancer screening services in the United States and its implications.

As a standard way for prevention and early detection of colorectal cancer (CRC), colonoscopy has been used for CRC screening in the United States for more than one decade. An article entitled "Assessing Colorectal Cancer Screening Adherence of Medicare Fee-For-Service Beneficiaries Age 76 to 95 Years" recently published at the Journal of Oncology Practice reports the trends in overuse of CRC screening services among average-risk elderly populations at the age of 76-95 years. Several reasons for overusing colonoscopy have been postulated, and some strategies for reducing overuse of CRC screening services have also been proposed.