Partnerships to Increase Cancer Screening

CDC’s Screen Out Cancer initiative increases awareness of the work by the National Breast and Cervical Cancer Early Detection Program and Colorectal Cancer Control Program funded partners. This initiative highlights the value of partnerships with funded agencies to increase cancer screening through strengthening the use of evidence-based interventions. Screen Out Cancer helps public health agency leaders, health system administrators, and healthcare influencers screen more people and improve quality of the care provided. When launched in January 2018, a new brand was introduced prior to a ten-week digital launch (June-August 2018). In addition, communication resources were developed including tested content messages, new visual materials for these programs, a communication plan, social media ads, and three videos featuring Dr. Lisa Richardson, DCPC Director. Check out the videos on the Cancer Playlist of CDC’s YouTube Channel.

The Screen Out Cancer initiative and brand serves as an overarching guide for other current and future cancer-specific projects funded by DCPC. The initiative is ongoing with the next phase building on findings and recently developed materials. During this month, the National Association of Chronic Disease Directors (NACDD) begins the next phase and will provide co-branding support and technical assistance to help partners implement evidence-based interventions to increase cancer screening.

Helping Providers Improve Mental Health Care for Cancer Survivors

Mental distress can negatively affect the overall well-being and health outcomes of cancer survivors. About three out of every four cancer survivors experiences mental distress. Unfortunately, one-third or fewer cancer survivors have talked to their doctor about their mental health needs or concerns. Distress screening is recommended for cancer patients in all clinical settings, and is required in facilities accredited by the American College of Surgeons Commission on Cancer (AcoS). CDC’s Division of Cancer Prevention and Control and the NACDD partnered with Kognito to create Provider Education for Mental Health Care of Cancer Survivors (EMHCCS) Training. This free, web-based interactive training lets providers engage in role-play conversations to try different approaches for discussing mental health concerns identified through distress screening. The training also includes access to resources such as the Patient Provider Communication Video Series and distress management guidelines and recommendations. This training has received CME accreditation. Learn more and access the EMHCCS training.

Understanding Challenges of Breast and Cervical Cancer Screening Among Muslim Women

The Muslim faith is one of the fastest growing religious groups in the United States and studies show that Muslim women may have lower percentages of breast and cervical cancer screening compared to all women. CDC funded the New York University School of Medicine, a Prevention Research Center, to conduct the MARHABA (Muslim Americans Reaching for Health and Building Alliances) study to: 1) understand the barriers and facilitators of breast and cervical cancer screening among Muslim women in New York City, and 2) use this information to develop and implement an intervention to increase knowledge and screening. Key informants in the community such as religious leaders and social service agencies, reported language, insurance, immigration status, and lack of knowledge about screening as specific structural and cultural barriers. Muslim women reported modesty, stigma, and gender of the physician as barriers to screening. Strategies to help increase screening included focusing on norms associated with the Islam religion, such as the importance of personal health, and engaging mosques and religious leaders to disseminate health campaign materials during faith-based settings.

Alcohol and Breast Cancer: How Much Do You Know?

Alcohol is part of many social gatherings and some people consume alcohol without understanding the risks associated with it. Evidence shows that alcohol is linked to female breast cancer and raises your risk of other cancers. The October edition of ONS Voice from The Oncology Nursing Society, features a blog post titled, “The Overlooked Link Between Alcohol and Breast Cancer” by CDC’s Dr. Mary White. Dr. White discusses her experience when faced with questions about alcohol and breast cancer risk and provides the latest guidance on alcohol and cancer prevention.

New CDC Study Looks at Mammography Screening and Out-of-Pocket Payments

Mammography screening is recommended every two years for women aged 50 –74 years at average risk for breast cancer. For some of these women, mammograms are not fully covered and require out-of-pocket payments. A new CDC study looks at how often out-of-pocket payments occur for “in-network” screening mammograms after cost sharing was removed from many insurance plans. When cost sharing is included in insurance plans, patients pay a share of the costs for healthcare covered by insurance. The results showed that some women still encounter cost sharing due to being uninsured, having private health plans that were not required to eliminate cost sharing, and getting screening services out of network or through Medicaid coverage. According to the 2015 National Health Interview Survey, 23.5% of women aged 50-64 years reported payment, including 39.1% of uninsured women. For women aged 65-74 years, 11.9% reported payment, including 22.5% of Medicare-only beneficiaries. While most women reported no payment for their most recent screening mammogram, the highest reporting of any payment occurred among women who were uninsured or privately insured. More research is needed to understand why many women in some groups report paying out-of-pocket for mammograms and whether this affects screening use. Find out more about breast cancer screening programs.

Don't Miss It! New Post on DCPC's The Topic Is Cancer Blog

Check out our new blog post for Breast Cancer Awareness Month. "Be Informed. Be Empowered." encourages people to get the right information about breast cancer to make the best decisions for screening and treatment. It also highlights several breast cancer resources including our interactive tool, Talk to Someone: Triple Negative Breast Cancer, Bring Your Bravecampaign's real stories from breast cancer survivors, and the Your Health video featuring Joan Lunden.

Did You Know?

Each year in the United States, more than 242,000 cases of breast cancer are diagnosed in women and about 2,250 in men.
Breast cancer is the second most common cause of death from cancer among white, black, Asian/Pacific Islander, and American Indian/Alaska Native women.