A recent analysis conducted by the global consulting firm Milliman and funded by Gamma Medica, a company specializing in molecular breast imaging, found that wide variation exists in the utilization and sequence of medical procedures following mammography for breast cancer screening.
The study population included one million claims from women aged 30 to 64 screened by mammogram between 2009 and 2011. The report showed that 17% of mammograms required follow-up testing, which can include additional mammograms, sonography, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), molecular breast imaging (MBI), and biopsy, among other procedures. That rate was higher than the 5 to 14% rates reported by previous studies.
Of these women, 2.4% received subsequent biopsies, with a false positive rate of 81%. Some women received a single follow-up procedure and biopsy, while other women received up to four procedures that may or may not have included biopsy.
In addition, analysis found that the average screening episode cost per woman was $249.70, with 62% of the cost stemming from the mammogram. Of the remaining 38%, 18% of cost came from biopsy; 8.3% from sonogram; 7.2% from follow-up diagnostic mammogram; 4.2% from MRI; and less than 1% from MBI.
