Researchers at National Cancer Institute Target Breast Cancer Screening (Mammography Use Among Medicare Beneficiaries After Elimination of Cost…

Researchers at National Cancer Institute Target Breast Cancer Screening (Mammography Use Among Medicare Beneficiaries After Elimination of Cost Sharing)

By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Insurance Weekly News -- Research findings on Oncology are discussed in a new report. According to news reporting originating from Bethesda, Maryland, by VerticalNews correspondents, research stated, "We examined mammography use before and after Medicare eliminated cost sharing for screening mammography in January 2011. Using National Health Interview Survey data, we examined changes in mammography use between 2010 and 2013 among Medicare beneficiaries aged 65-74 years."

Our news editors obtained a quote from the research from National Cancer Institute, "Logistic regression and predictive margins were used to examine changes in use after adjusting for covariates. In 2013, 74.7% of women reported a mammogram within 2 years, a 3.5 percentage point increase (95% confidence interval, -0.3, 7.2) compared with 2010. Increases occurred among women aged 65-69 years, unmarried women, and women with usual sources of care and 2-5 physician visits in the prior year. After adjustment, mammography use increased in 2013 versus 2010 (74.8% vs. 71.3%, P=0.039). Interactions between year and income, insurance, race, or ethnicity were not significant. There was a modest increase in mammography use from 2010 to 2013 among Medicare beneficiaries aged 65-74 years, possibly consistent with an effect of eliminating Medicare cost sharing during this time."

According to the news editors, the research concluded: "Findings suggest that eliminating cost sharing might increase use of recommended screening services."

For more information on this research see: Mammography Use Among Medicare Beneficiaries After Elimination of Cost Sharing. Medical Care, 2016;54(4):394-399. Medical Care can be contacted at: Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, Two Commerce Sq, 2001 Market St, Philadelphia, PA 19103, USA. (Lippincott Williams and Wilkins - www.lww.com; Medical Care - journals.lww.com/lww-medicalcare/pages/default.aspx)

The news editors report that additional information may be obtained by contacting S.A. Sabatino, National Cancer Institute, Div Canc Control & Populat Sci, Bethesda, MD 20892, United States. Additional authors for this research include T.D. Thompson, G.P. Guy, J.S. de Moor and F.K. Tangka.

Keywords for this news article include: Bethesda, Maryland, Medicare, Oncology, United States, Health Policy, Women's Health, Breast Cancer Screening, North and Central America

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