If you're not already
a Health e-Report subscriber,
click here: Subscribe

GEHA campaign aims to decrease breast cancer mortality

As part of a patient safety initiative, GEHA is conducting a breast cancer screening campaign designed to increase health plan members' use of mammography screenings and clinical breast exams and decrease rates of breast cancer mortality. Through mailings to health plan members in specific regional areas, the campaign targets women ages 52 to 69 who have not had mammograms in the past two years.

GEHA sent an initial mailing to coincide with Breast Cancer Awareness month last October. In addition to urging health plan members to schedule mammograms and clinical exams, the first mailing provided educational materials from the American Cancer Society. Project measurements in January 2007 show that 4 percent of the 3,563 women in the targeted audience subsequently underwent mammography screening.

In February 2007, GEHA mailed approximately 3,400 follow-up letters, as well as educational materials from the Susan G. Komen Foundation. The health plan will measure results from the second mailing in May of this year.

Breast cancer is the most common cancer in women. According to the American Cancer Society, early detection of breast cancers often allows more treatment options and may improve treatment success rates. Often, such cancers are found during mammograms and clinical breast exams. Most physicians recommend that women get a baseline mammogram at age 40, with follow-up screenings every one or two years unless otherwise indicated.