Survey Finds Women Not Willing To Pay For Immediate Mammography Results.(Brief Article)

2001 SEP 13 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Would you pay an additional fee to get your screening mammogram results right after your examination?

In a random survey of 120 women, the majority of women said no. In fact, one-third of the women said they preferred to get their results at a later time.

The survey results were published in the September 2001 issue of the American Journal of Roentgenology.

"We conducted the study to determine if patients really wanted to get their screening mammography results immediately, what the cost would be to our facility to provide immediate reporting, and if patients would be willing to pay at least part of those costs," says Sughra Raza, MD, the lead author of the study and associate director of breast imaging at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston, Massachusetts.

"We were surprised that only 67% of the women indicated they preferred immediate reporting," says Raza. "We expected this number to be much higher because we are hearing from our patients and our referring physicians that they want to know the results right away," she says.

A benefit to immediate reporting is that if something is found on a screening mammogram, additional tests can be done immediately. In addition, the patient doesn't have to wait to get her screening mammogram results so she may feel less anxious about the examination. "Despite what we're hearing and the added convenience, there was still a substantial number of women who are willing to wait for their results," Raza reports.

Immediate reporting can cost a facility between $4 and $29, she says. "We found that if a facility is working at capacity and would need to add staff time, equipment, and a room to allow the physician to talk to the patient about the mammogram results, the cost for immediate reporting would be $28.22 per patient."