Medicare Agent News: Cancer Prevention Works: Getting Back to Screening to Battle Breast Cancer

Tuesday, October 26, 2021

Cancer Prevention Works: Getting Back to Screening to Battle Breast Cancer

October 2021

Turning Breast Cancer Awareness into Action: Return to Screening

Woman smiling with confidence

More than a quarter million women in the United States get breast cancer each year. October’s Breast Cancer Awareness Month is dedicated to promoting actions to reduce breast cancer and improve outcomes for those living with and beyond breast cancer. Let’s focus on the actions.

Learn about breast health and risk factors. Be aware of changes in your breasts and know the symptoms to look for. Some factors such as a family history of breast cancer and inherited changes to breast cancer genes may raise your chance of getting breast cancer. Keeping a healthy weight and getting regular physical activity can help lower your breast cancer risk.

Get screened. Screening checks your body for cancer before you have symptoms. Getting mammograms as recommended is the best way to find breast cancer early, when it’s easier to treat. Regular health checkups and screenings were put on pause during the pandemic. Don’t wait—let’s get back to screening.

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Oregon Improves Access to Cancer Screening Services

Portrait of Maria De Lourdes Navarro

Access to health care services such as cancer screening can be difficult for some communities. In 2020, Oregon’s ScreenWise program partnered with Northwest Family Services to provide free breast cancer screenings for uninsured women in Oregon. These efforts focused on communities with residents who struggle with transportation, speak limited English, and have incomes below the poverty level. Northwest Family Services trained community health workers to connect with the communities they serve.

Maria De Lourdes Navarro, a daily wage worker without health insurance, was three years overdue for her breast cancer screening. A community health worker scheduled a free screening mammogram and helped Maria get transportation to a clinic.

“My community health worker helped guide me through the process,” says Maria, and that helped her get the care she needed.

New CDC Study Looks at Screening Test Use Among Cervical Cancer Survivors

Two women sitting in the park

Screening tests can help prevent cervical cancer or find it early, yet many women haven’t been screened as recommended. CDC’s Case Investigation of Cervical Cancer (CICC) study looks at the screening history of women diagnosed with cervical cancer (5 years before diagnosis) and why they did or did not get screened. The study also looks at follow-up care for women who received abnormal screening test results. More than one-third of women with abnormal test results did not get the recommended follow-up care.

Women who had not been screened were more likely to be older when their cancer was found, and the cancer was often at a later stage. The top reasons why women do or don’t get screened relate to what they know about cervical cancer risk and screening tests, and whether they have health insurance to pay for screening.

30 Years and Counting: Highlighting Health Equity

During its 30-year history, CDC’s National Breast and Cervical Cancer Early Detection Program (NBCCEDP) has helped nearly 6 million women who have low incomes and are uninsured get breast and cervical cancer screening tests. These important screenings found nearly 74,000 breast cancers and 5,000 cervical cancers cancers that might not have been found otherwise. Of the one million women served in the most recent five years, most were from racial and ethnic minority groups. The program continues to expand and reach more women using population-based approaches to increase high quality breast and cervical cancer screening.

The program recently shared its health equity strategies to help close gaps in screening and improve patient outcomes.

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New Webinar: Environmental Chemicals and Impact on Cancer Prevention

Webinar Graphic - Alliance to Advance Patient-Centered Cancer Care

A new series of webinars will share information on the impact of environmental chemicals on cancer prevention. This first webinar will provide an overall view and background on the topic of environmental chemicals and cancer prevention. Later webinars in the series will focus on evidence-based/evidence-informed interventions and how to develop partnerships.

These webinars are developed through a partnership between the National Association of Chronic Disease Directors (NACDD), CDC, the Lowell Center for Sustainable Production at the University of Massachusetts Lowell and Breast Cancer Prevention Partners. Please contact info@chronicdisease.org if you have questions. Join the first webinar on October 20, 2021 at 2:00-3:15pm, ET.

Research Spotlight

Health Plan-Based Mailed Fecal Testing for Colorectal Cancer Screening Among Dual-Eligible Medicaid/Medicare Enrollees: Outcomes of 2 Program Models is a study that compares two program approaches using fecal immunochemical test (FIT) kits. One program sent FIT kits to all eligible enrollees and the other program sent FIT kits only to enrollees who agreed after outreach. The study examines how the programs were put in place, completion rates of test kits, and program-related health plan costs.

Did You Know?

Many conditions can cause lumps in the breast, including cancer. But most breast lumps are caused by other medical conditions.
October is Liver Cancer Awareness Month. Liver cancer has been on the rise for several years. You can lower your risk by getting vaccinated against Hepatitis B, getting tested for Hepatitis C, and not drinking too much alcohol.