Women Travel Nearly 3 Times as Far for Supplemental MR or US Breast Cancer Screening than for Mammography, Limiting Access for Those at Higher Risk

A new Harvey L. Neiman Health Policy Institute study found the geographic distance to facilities providing breast MR or ultrasound was more than 2.7 times further than the distance to a mammography center. Given new breast density guidelines, now approximately one in two women (those who have dense breast tissue) are recommended to have supplemental breast cancer screening by breast MR or ultrasound due to their relatively higher breast cancer risk. The research, published in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine, measured distance to the nearest facility offering mammography, breast MR and/or breast ultrasound for 29,629 ZIP codes. The researchers compared distance between imaging types to reveal the relative extent of this barrier to access and to inform approaches to mitigate disparities. 

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