Sustaining mammography screening among the medically underserved: a follow-up evaluation

Area of Science:

• Public Health
• Preventive Medicine
• Health Services Research

Background:

• Previous interventions achieved over 50% mammography rates in community clinics.
• Focus on improving biennial screening rates for eligible patients.

Purpose of the Study:

• Evaluate the effectiveness of three interventions on biennial screening rates.
• Assess the cost-effectiveness of these interventions.

Main Methods:

• A three-arm quasi-experimental study in eight community clinics (2008-2011).
• Interventions included enhanced care, education, and nurse support.
• Mammography offered at no cost to uninsured patients.

Main Results:

• Nurse support arm showed 48.0% biennial mammography rates.
• Enhanced care (11.0%) and education (7.1%) arms showed significantly lower rates.
• Nurse support had incremental costs of $1,232-$1,092 per additional screening.

Conclusions:

• Nurse support effectively improved biennial mammography screening rates.
• Enhanced care and education interventions did not significantly improve rates.
• The nurse support intervention was not cost-effective.