Abstract P1-17-01: Anticipating ACA's impact on breast cancer screening for medically underserved women reached through the Avon Breast Health Outreach Program: Understanding the Massachusetts experience
Authors: Senter Lindsay , Aliaga Marvin R , Hu Yixin , Opdyke Kelly Morrison , Gates-Ferris Kathryn , Hurlbert Marc 
Published: May 2015

Background

The Avon Breast Health Outreach Program (BHOP) supports community-based organizations to conduct education and outreach to link low-income and uninsured women to routine breast cancer screening and care. Through the Affordable Care Act (ACA), the number of uninsured individuals is expected to decrease as of 2014. While ACA implementation varies by state, BHOP grantees may benefit from understanding the health reform experience in Massachusetts (MA) in 2006 and its impact on the number and proportion of uninsured clients served over time.

Objective

Describe changes in client volume, health insurance status, and demographics following implementation of health reform in MA to anticipate upcoming impact of ACA on BHOP grantees.

Methods

Confidential client intake records of continuously funded BHOP grantees from 2004-2012 were analyzed; dataset included females aged 40-64, recruited for breast cancer screening. We compared records for 11,199 clients served by 4 ‘MA’ BHOP programs with 283,720 clients served by 52 ‘control’ agencies funded in the US during the same time period. We examined trends across years in agency-specific rates of health insurance coverage, and client volume adjusting for annual funding. Changes in key demographic characteristics over time were also analyzed.

Results

The proportion of uninsured MA clients decreased dramatically from 46.6% to 6.2% from 2004-2012, with the biggest decrease occurring in the 3 years following health reform (42.1% to 13.0% from 2006-2009); as compared to only a slight drop among controls from 2004-2012 (69.3% to 67.4%). After adjusting for changes in annual BHOP funding, MA experienced a 74% increase in client volume from 2006-2009, compared with a 15% increase among controls. From 2004-2012, the mean age of clients (53 years) remained stable and similar for MA and controls. The proportion of racial/ethnic minorities served increased considerably in MA, from 62.0% to 77.7%, versus a smaller increase of 60.1% to 63.0% in controls. Likewise, the proportion of clients born outside the US rose from 37.2% to 50.7% in MA, compared with 33.7% to 36.6% among controls. However, the proportion of low-income clients (annual household income &lt;$25,000) decreased overall from 90.4% to 83.1% in MA, and from 83.1% to 79.1% for controls.

Conclusion

In BHOP, Massachusetts observed a marked decrease (most noticeably in the 3 years following health reform) in the proportion of uninsured clients served, while overall client volume and the proportion of racial/ethnic minorities and foreign-born women increased.

Discussion

Historically, many BHOP grantees have relied on funding from the CDC’s National Breast and Cervical Cancer Early Detection Program or charity funds to pay for screening services for uninsured clients. As more clients nationally gain access to health insurance, BHOP grantees need to be prepared for the changing landscape and potential increase in client volume, as experienced by MA. Additionally, grantees should plan to update systems that aid in health insurance eligibility determination, assist with enrollment, and strengthen provider partnerships and referral systems that accept multiple types of insurance.

Citation Format: Lindsay Senter, Marvin R Aliaga, Yixin Hu, Kelly Morrison Opdyke, Kathryn Gates-Ferris, Marc Hurlbert. Anticipating ACA's impact on breast cancer screening for medically underserved women reached through the Avon Breast Health Outreach Program: Understanding the Massachusetts experience [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the Thirty-Seventh Annual CTRC-AACR San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium: 2014 Dec 9-13; San Antonio, TX. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2015;75(9 Suppl):Abstract nr P1-17-01.