Colonoscopies are a highly effective, potentially life-saving screening procedure used to detect colon polyps and find colorectal cancer early. It’s important to stay up-to-date on screenings like colonoscopies, and your primary care provider can help you understand when colonoscopies are recommended based on your age and other factors.
To help make colon cancer screening more streamlined and accessible, St. Peter’s offers open access colonoscopy (OPAC) to qualifying patients. OPACs don’t require a separate clinic visit before the procedure, which helps save time and the cost of an office visit co-payment. OPACs allow healthy, age-appropriate patients can get a colonoscopy scheduled with an order from their primary care provider.
At St. Peter’s, OPACs are performed by gastroenterologists, colorectal surgeons and general surgeons.
Who qualifies for OPACs?
Your primary care provider will determine if you qualify for an OPAC based on a set of factors, including age and health history. Generally, colonoscopies are recommended starting at age 45 and should be repeated every 10 years with normal test results.
Scheduling and external referrals
Once your provider has ordered an OPAC, our Endoscopy Scheduling Specialist will contact you to review important information and schedule the procedure.
If you are an external provider looking to place an OPAC referral, please fax the referral to 406-447-2587.