Enhancing Patient Participation in Follow-Up Care for Cervical Cancer Screening Abnormalities: A Cervical Health...

Cervical cancer remains a significant U.S. health concern, with more than 13,000 new cases expected in 2025. Suboptimal screening rates remain a concern, especially among underserved patients often missing appointments. This quality improvement project piloted a cervical health facilitator (c-HF) role to address barriers to follow-up after abnormal cervical cancer screening results.

A posttest design to evaluate the impact of a dedicated c-HF on patient participation in recommended follow-up care.

The pilot took place at a high-volume women's health clinic contending with long clinic wait times and patients who often face barriers to care.

Seventy-five new and established patients, ages 21 to 65 years, with a cervix and a recent abnormal cervical cancer screening result.

From October 2025 to January 2026, the c-HF conducted electronic medical record queries, standardized outreach, and offered follow-up visits each week. Data from the electronic medical record, visit logs, and outreach records were analyzed, measuring time to outreach, time to scheduled visit, visit completion, and visit duration by clinician.

Patients with existing diagnoses experienced slower outreach, inefficiency in scheduling, and lower completion rates. Ninety-eight percent of patients with low-grade findings were reached, and 29% completed visits on time compared to 100% and 41% with high-grade findings, respectively. Clinic wait times were 67% shorter with c-HF support. Overall, 45.3% of patients completed follow-up, 33% within 45 days.

The c-HF model improves outreach, scheduling efficiency, and timely follow-up while reducing visit duration. Simple to implement, the role enhances patient engagement and clinician support, as well as patient-centered cervical cancer prevention.