Bridging Specialties®: Timely Access to Lung Cancer Screening

Bridging Specialties®: Timely Access to Lung Cancer Screening education program includes four activities:

Interactive Infographic: Navigating the Lung Cancer Screening and Nodule Management Pathway

This interactive educational experience provides clinicians with practical, evidence-based guidance for implementing lung cancer screening in clinical practice. Through engaging visual content and case-based application, participants will explore current screening recommendations, shared decision-making strategies, risk assessment, eligibility criteria, and evidence-based approaches to pulmonary nodule management. Designed to support real-world implementation, this activity helps clinicians apply evolving guideline recommendations to improve early detection and patient outcomes.

ReachMD Vodcast: First 5 Minutes®: Empowering Shared Decisions in Lung Cancer Screening

This episode focuses on improving lung cancer screening and early detection by helping primary care providers recognize eligible and high-risk patients, apply current screening guidelines, and engage patients in clear shared decision-making conversations. Speakers will explore why many patients who qualify for low-dose CT scan screening are still not screened. Learn practice strategies to help close preventable gaps in care, including identifying risk during routine visits, addressing patient concerns, ordering appropriate screening, and ensuring follow-up for findings such as pulmonary nodules.

HCP Toolkits: Bridging Specialties®: Timely Access to Lung Cancer Screening—Clinician Toolkit

This point-of-care toolkit equips clinicians with practical resources to support evidence- based lung cancer screening across the continuum of care. The toolkit includes clinical infographics, quick-reference guides, the First 5 Minutes® communication framework, shared decision-making tools, guideline comparisons, nodule management resources, and smoking cessation support. This resource is designed to help clinicians confidently identify eligible patients, facilitate informed conversations, and implement current screening recommendations in everyday practice.

Patient Toolkits: Bridging Specialties®: Timely Access to Lung Cancer Screening—Patient Education Toolkit

This patient-focused toolkit provides easy-to-understand educational resources that support informed conversations about lung cancer screening. Designed to complement discussions with clinicians, this content covers who may benefit from screening, what to expect during the screening process, the benefits and potential risks of screening, and available smoking cessation resources. These tools encourage shared decision-making and help patients make informed choices that align with their health goals and preferences.

Apply current lung cancer screening guidelines to identify eligible patients, address coverage/reimbursement requirements, and implement evidence-based screening protocols in clinical practice.
Identify and counsel expanded high-risk groups for lung cancer screening, including minority groups, those who never smoked, occupational exposure groups, veterans, and those in high-burden areas outside traditional age and smoking criteria.
Apply Lung-RADS and Fleischner Society guidelines to classify pulmonary nodules based on size, morphology, and patient risk factors.

This educational initiative is designed for community pulmonologists, primary care physicians, nurse practitioners, physician assistants, and nurses.

FACULTY

Brett Bade, MD
Senior Associate Consultant
Section of Pulmonary, Critical Care, Allergy, and Sleep Medicine
Mayo Clinic
Rochester, MN

Michael Gieske, MD
Director, Lung Cancer Screening
St. Elizabeth Healthcare
Edgewood, KY

Nate Falk, MD, MBA, CPE, FAAFP
Assistant Dean, Graduate Medical Education
Professor, Family Medicine and Rural Health
Founding Residency Program Director
Florida State University College of Medicine, Family Medicine Residency at BayCare Health System
Winter Haven, FL

Nichole T. Tanner, MD, MS, FCCP
Professor of Medicine
Division of Pulmonary, Critical Care, Allergy, and Sleep Medicine
Medical University of South Carolina
Deputy Chief, Pulmonary Section
Ralph H. Johnson VA Health Care System
Charleston, SC

Diana Espinoza Barrera, MD
Assistant Professor, Interventional Pulmonology
Pulmonary Diseases, Critical Care, and Environmental Medicine
Tulane University
New Orleans, LA