RESUMO
Funding for many mass screening programs for low-income and uninsured populations provides resources for screening tests, yet only rarely does it provide coverage for necessary follow-up diagnostic and treatment services. The National Breast and Cervical Cancer Early Detection Program (NBCCEDP), a federally funded initiative that provides cancer screening to low-income uninsured and underinsured women, covers some diagnostic follow-up tests and no treatment services. We conducted in-depth case studies of seven state programs participating in the NBCCEDP to investigate the strategies and approaches being used to secure diagnostic and treatment services. The results suggest that the program relies on a patchwork of resources--at state and local levels--to provide diagnostic and treatment services. This includes a number of components of local safety nets, all of which are unstable and have uncertain futures. Public health disease-screening initiatives need to reconsider the feasibility of continued reliance on case-by-case appeals to the local safety net for diagnostic follow-up and treatment services.
Assuntos
Neoplasias da Mama/diagnóstico , Programas de Rastreamento , Pobreza , Neoplasias do Colo do Útero/diagnóstico , Neoplasias da Mama/terapia , Feminino , Apoio Financeiro , Seguimentos , Recursos em Saúde/economia , Recursos em Saúde/estatística & dados numéricos , Recursos em Saúde/provisão & distribuição , Humanos , Entrevistas como Assunto/métodos , Programas de Rastreamento/economia , Programas de Rastreamento/métodos , Programas de Rastreamento/estatística & dados numéricos , Pobreza/estatística & dados numéricos , Estados Unidos , Neoplasias do Colo do Útero/terapiaRESUMO
This report describes strategies used to provide diagnostic follow-up and treatment services to low-income women screened through the National Breast and Cervical Cancer Early Detection Program.