Chicago, IL—Removing copays may help boost mammography screening rates for all age-groups above age 40 years. One insurer found a significant increase in screening rates with the removal of a copay, said Jeffrey M. Peppercorn, MD, MPH, Medical Oncologist at Duke Cancer Institute, Durham, NC.
A significant number of middle-aged women who live in rural locales do not pursue even biennial breast cancer screening, and cost may play a role, according to insurance claims data Dr Peppercorn presented at ASCO 2013.
He and his colleagues evaluated the rates of annual screening mammography utilization and biennial screening mammography utilization in women in rural US regions.
“Despite the benefits of screening, we also know that not all patients are getting screened,” Dr Peppercorn said.
Lower screening rates are found in places such as rural North Carolina, where a 2004 study showed that only 58% of women had a screening mammography over the past 3 years, and a sizable 24% had never had screening mammography. A 2008 study reported annual mammography screenings for only 57.9% of women from rural Pennsylvania.
For the present study, Dr Peppercorn and his colleagues used claims data for screening mammography between 1999 and 2009 from the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association (NRECA) database, an organization that insures more than 100,000 electrical workers and their families nationwide. The researchers focused on women aged 40 to 64 years who had no history of invasive breast cancer or noninvasive ductal carcinoma in situ.
The study’s overarching goals were to review screening rates and to determine the effect of removing coinsurance for screening mammography on the use of mammography screening for a mostly rural population.
More than 20,000 women had annual insurance through NRECA. There was a rise in annual mammography screening utilization from 38.1% to 49.5% during the study period. Similarly, biennial mammography screening utilization climbed from 57.2% to 68.1% during the 10-year study period.
Of note, in 2006, the NRECA unveiled a well woman examination that eliminated copays, coinsurance, and deductibles for screening mammography for women aged ≥40 years. As a result of the elimination of the copay, screening rates jumped significantly. The percentage of women who at least elected to have biennial screening rose from 60.9% in 2006 to 68.8% in 2007. The absolute difference in screening by age ranged from 5.3% for women aged 40 to 45 years to 10% for women aged 60 to 64 years.
Given the findings to date, the researchers are continuing to review the financial and nonfinancial obstacles to screening, as well as the perceptions of current screening guidance.