title: Screening mammography for Oklahoma Medicare beneficiaries: a national priority for quality improvement.
abstract: Breast cancer is one of the most common malignancies diagnosed in women in the United States. It is estimated that more than 2,700 new cases of female breast cancer will be diagnosed in Oklahoma this year. Using the Medicare mammography denominator file and Medicare claims data (October 1999 through September 2001), we assessed the utilization of mammography for this population. The overall biennial mammography rate for Oklahoma Medicare patients was 46.9% (95% CI 46.7-47.1) and was 54.7% (95% CI 54.3-55.2) for Medicare patients aged 50-67 years. There were significant racial disparities in utilization of mammography. In addition, there was substantial county-to-county variation in the utilization of mammography in Oklahoma. When compared to other states and territories, Oklahoma mammography rates for this population were in the lowest quartile nationally, ranking 47th in the nation. Increasing the use of mammography services for Medicare patients is a national priority for healthcare quality improvement.
authors.affiliation: Oklahoma Foundation for Medical Quality, Inc., 5801 Broadway Extension, Suite 400, Oklahoma City, OK 73118, USA.
authors.forename: Siddhartha
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Venkatappa
authors.forename: W H
authors.initials: WH
authors.lastname: Oehlert
authors.forename: Litti
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Nguyen
authors.forename: Aggie
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Austelle
authors.forename: Dale W
authors.initials: DW
authors.lastname: Bratzler
mesh_terms: D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000517:prevention & control*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008327:Mammography / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006278:Medicare / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D008875:Middle Aged; D009825:Oklahoma / Q000453:epidemiology; D011787:Quality of Health Care