White patients with Medicare coverage receive colorectal cancer screening in higher proportions than do members of all other racial and ethnic groups, according to a new study by researchers at UC Davis and the University of Washington. The researchers found that colorectal cancer screenings were performed for 47 percent of whites, but for only 42 percent of Asians and Pacific Islanders, 38 percent of blacks and 33 percent of Hispanics. "We need more information about the barriers that different populations encounter when it comes to screening for colon cancer," said Joshua Fenton, lead author of the study, which was published in the March issue of the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society.