Impact of insurance-related disparities on delay in treatment initiation among colorectal cancer patients in an underserved community teaching hospital.

e23382 Background: Timely treatment after colorectal cancer (CRC) diagnosis is critical, nationally therapy starts within 30–60 days. Patients in underserved communities, with public or no insurance, may experience delays. This study assessed insurance-related disparities in time to treatment initiation at a community teaching hospital. Methods: in a retrospective cohort study of CRC patients diagnosed in 2025,51 gastrointestinal malignancies identified, 21 were CRC, and 17 patients with available data were included. Patients were stratified into public/uninsured and private groups. Time to treatment initiation was recorded in days and categorized as ≤30, 30–60, and > 60 days. Continuous delays were compared using the Mann–Whitney U test, and delays > 60 days using Fisher’s exact test in GraphPad Prism 10 (p 60days stage 1 83 m R M 5/30/25 8/26/25 Chem 88 days stage 4 2 66 f R M 10/1/25 10-Nov chem 40 stage 2 3 67 f C M 3/5/25 4/8/25 chemo 34 stage 4 4 77 m C M 9/5/25 11/21/25 Sur 77 stage 2 5 76 m C P 9/26/25 10/14/25 Chem 18 days stage3 6 85 f C P Nov-20 nov2020 Sur 7days