Primary Care Relationship Impacts Cancer Screenings

According to MedPage Today, only about half of older Medicaid patients receive recommended screening for colorectal, breast, and cervical cancers, largely because their physicians don't recommend the tests, researchers here reported.

About half of eligible Medicaid patients had evidence of screening when medical record and claims data were analyzed together.

Previous studies have shown that Medicaid recipients are more likely to have an advanced stage of cancer at the time of diagnosis than patients with other sources of health insurance, the researchers said.

And other studies have found that patients with lower socioeconomic status have lower rates of cancer screening.

All patients in this study, however, had "access to primary care and full coverage of cancer screening services under Medicaid," the researchers said.

Read the rest of this article at MedPage Today.