NYC Health + Hospitals Reports Colorectal Screening Gains as Mobile Care Reaches Neighborhoods

NEW YORK — More than 117,000 eligible patients received colorectal cancer screening through NYC Health + Hospitals in 2025, the public hospital system reported in March. For the first time, more than 70% of eligible patients were up to date, the system said. The result reflects a broad effort to make preventive care a routine part of visits and to connect patients with tests that can detect disease before symptoms become severe. It also gives the city’s health system a measure to track as it works to reach more people across the five boroughs.

The figures describe the system’s patient population, not every New Yorker and not the impact of a new mobile clinic launch. The Health Department’s fiscal 2026 management report identifies preventive care, including immunizations and cancer screening, as an area of work carried out with health-care providers and community organizations. It also lists fixed-site services such as immunization and sexual-health clinics and Neighborhood Health Action Centers. These programs address different needs and should not be collapsed into one citywide van initiative.

NYC Health + Hospitals’ Street Health Outreach + Wellness program, known as SHOW, is the clearest mobile-care example. The system says its units serve unsheltered New Yorkers and provide care without scheduled appointments or cost, including primary care, wound care, chronic-disease management, testing, vaccinations, mental-health resources, harm reduction and housing support. Its published schedule lists recurring stops in neighborhoods including the Lower East Side, Harlem, Williamsburg, Jamaica and the Bronx. These are street-medicine services for people facing barriers to care, not a general-purpose screening bus advertised to all residents.

NYC Health + Hospitals also reported creating five mobile treatment teams during fiscal 2026 to connect people with serious mental-health needs to care. Those teams serve a different population from SHOW units and from screening programs based in hospitals and clinics. Together, the services show how mobile outreach and preventive medicine can address distinct barriers: bringing basic care to people living outdoors, reaching patients who may be disconnected from traditional services, and improving access to routine tests. Residents can check the health system’s clinic and mobile-unit listings for current locations and services; screening recommendations depend on age, medical history and clinical guidance.