ACR Hill Day Message Echoed in Senate Mammography Briefing
One of three issues ACR members took to Capitol Hill as part of the AMCLC hill day was highlighted in a Senate briefing last week. Senator Barbara Mikulski (D-Md.) hosted a forum in response to recent news of dramatic decreases in the number of women receiving mammograms around the country.
A panel of experts, including representatives of the National Cancer Institute, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and several patient advocacy groups, discussed possible reasons for this decline. Among the factors cited were significantly longer wait times and travel distances for women attempting to make mammogram appointments, an inconvenience often attributed to a dearth of physicians and facilities providing mammography services.
Senator Susan Collins (R-Maine) specifically mentioned meeting with radiologists from her state, who had discussed the mammography issue with her. She relayed their message that access problems are being caused by low reimbursement rates, high malpractice risks, and denial of malpractice insurance to providers of mammography.
Panel members concurred with these concerns. A representative of the Susan G. Komen Foundation remarked that the organization had recently sponsored a study of access barriers to mammography, which found serious problems in regions where there were no radiologists with mammography expertise. In such situations, mammography facilities had closed, leaving women without access. A representative of the American Cancer Society agreed, noting that there are fewer breast imaging fellowships in this country and that many of these fellowships are going unfilled. He concluded by saying that something should be done to increase incentives for physicians to go into breast imaging.
The Mammography Quality Standards Act (MQSA) is slated for reauthorization this year. MQSA reauthorization offers Congress and other interested parties an opportunity to improve the act by amending or deleting certain portions of it. Concerns about mammography access are expected to help shape the reauthorization bill.