Cancer testing causes cancer? AHRQ U.S. healthcare quality report

AHRQ has a new site where there are healthcare quality reports and rankings for all 50 states.

I opened the page for my home state of Utah and looked at the information for the first quality measure: Cancer http://www.qualitytools.ahrq.gov/qualityreport/state/srt.aspx?state=UT

Percent of adults 50 and older with fecal occult blood test in last 2 years
National: 31.5%
Utah: 21.0%
Rank: 50

Colorectal cancer deaths per 100,000 population per year
National: 19.8
Utah: 13.5
Rank: 1

It's pretty obvious to me that if I don't get checked for colon cancer, my chances are better that I won't die from it.

dras

P.S. More meaningful discussion about this anomaly should first look at factors around how the data was derived, the math behind whether differences or "ranking" are meaningful, and other influences behind an apparent geographic disparity. Perhaps this can add fuel to a current debate as to whether fecal occult blood testing is even worthwhile. Which leads to discussions about Mail Order stool-DNA testing and virtual colonoscopies (neither of which currently carry endorsement from American College of Physicians, the American College of Colorectal Surgeons, and the National Cancer Institute.)