title: Eliminating health disparities: innovative methods to improve cervical cancer screening in a medically underserved population.
abstract: Homeless women have disproportionately lower rates of cervical cancer screening and higher rates of cervical cancer. In 2008, only 19% of the homeless women seen by Boston Health Care for the Homeless Program (BHCHP) were screened for cervical cancer. To improve screening, BHCHP implemented a 6-part intervention that incorporates point-of-care service, multidisciplinary screening, improved health maintenance forms, population management, process improvement, and increased provider and patient education. This resulted in a significant increase in cervical cancer screening, from 19% in 2008 to 50% in 2013. When compared with national and local cervical cancer screening trends, BHCHP surpassed improvement rates seen in other vulnerable populations. Simple and innovative interventions proved to be the most effective and practical methods of improving screening.
authors.affiliation: At the time of this writing, Monica Bharel, Emely R. Santiago, Sanju Nembang Forgione, and Casey K. León were with the Boston Health Care for the Homeless Program, Boston, MA. Monica Bharel is also with the Department of Medicine, Massachusetts General Hospital and Boston Medical Center, Boston. Linda Weinreb is with the Department of Family Medicine, University of Massachusetts Medical Center, Boston.
authors.forename: Monica
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Bharel
authors.forename: Emely R
authors.initials: ER
authors.lastname: Santiago
authors.forename: Sanju Nembang
authors.initials: SN
authors.lastname: Forgione
authors.forename: Casey K
authors.initials: CK
authors.lastname: León
authors.forename: Linda
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Weinreb
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001900:Boston; D005260:Female; D054625:Healthcare Disparities; D006703:Ill-Housed Persons; D006801:Humans; D008403:Mass Screening / Q000379:methods*; D008507:Medically Underserved Area; D009936:Organizational Innovation; D009939:Organizations, Nonprofit; D010353:Patient Education as Topic; D058996:Quality Improvement; D002583:Uterine Cervical Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis*