National Committee for Quality Assurance:
Mammography
The National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA) – the accreditation body for the managed care industry – bases accreditation of managed care health plans, in part, on how widely they provide mammography to their beneficiaries. For each health plan, NCQA measures the percentage of 52 to 69 year-old women who received at least one mammogram within the previous two years.1 The reason for the close monitoring is the evidence showing that mammography saves lives.
- NCQA points out that, "More than 2,500 lives could be saved each year if all women were screened at the rates seen in health plans at the 90th percentile."
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Breast Cancer Screening Rates for Commercial, Medicaid, and Medicare Health Plans |
| |
COMMERCIAL PLANS |
MEDICAID |
MEDICARE |
| 2002 |
74.9 |
55.8 |
74.5 |
| 2001 |
75.5 |
55.1 |
75.3 |
| 2000 |
74.5 |
54.9 |
73.9 |
1 "The State of Health Care Quality, 2003: Industry Trends and Analysis," National Committee for Quality Assurance
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