Breast Cancer Awareness Month: VA Leads Nation In Breast Cancer Screening Rates

The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) leads the nation in breast cancer screening rates and has outperformed non-VA health care systems in breast cancer screenings for more than 15 years, with 87 percent of eligible women receiving mammograms in the VA health care system in fiscal year 2010.

Non-veteran statistics were gathered by Healthcare Effectiveness Data and Information Set, a tool used by more than 90 percent of U.S. health plans to measure performance on important dimensions of care and service.  Those findings show the private sector screened 71 percent of eligible women during that time period.  It was also reported that Medicare screened 69 percent of its eligible women while Medicaid screened 51 percent.