Paper Title
Colonoscopy and the Medicare Program: Have we Reached Peak Colonoscopy use?

Abstract
The demand for colonoscopy surged after Medicare started covering screening colonoscopies for average-risk beneficiaries in 2001. There had been concerns that the US health system had insufficient endoscopic capacity to meet the increasing demand, but no sufficient data existed on whether the trend continued beyond its initial uptake period. We used a national data on fee-for-service Medicare population to examine the colonoscopy trend during 2001-2012 and find that monthly colonoscopy and screening colonoscopy rates increased between 2001-2005, but have steadily decreased between 2005-2012. Within the Medicare population, the number of population who are willing to undergo screening colonoscopy may have reached the peak given current coverage level and people’s screening preferences. Keywords - Health Policy, Health Services Research, Medicare, Gastroenterology