Promoting mammography appointment making

Compliance with screening mammography recommendations is low. Consequently, a community-wide program offering $50 mammograms at 29 radiology facilities was implemented. The program was promoted on a local TV news show and women 35 years and older were instructed to call a referral phone bank. If the caller met eligibility criteria, she received an information packet that assigned her to one of the facilities; it was her responsibility to schedule the appointment. At one facility, a strategy to increase compliance was piloted using a controlled design. Of the 96 subjects assigned to that clinic, 47 received an incentive coupon combined with a prompt in addition to the information packet and 49 received no coupon. The coupon was redeemable for a nutrition information kit when the subject appeared at her appointment. Results indicated that the incentive group had a significantly higher rate of appointment making than the control group (81 vs. 59%). Of subjects in both groups who made appointments, nearly 100% kept them. The intervention appeared to be cost-effective with a self-referred sample.