Abstract

Population wide mammography screening has been associated with a substantial rise in false-positive mammography findings and breast cancer over diagnosis. However, there is a lack of current data on the associated costs in the United States. We present costs due to false-positive mammograms and breast cancer over diagnoses among women ages 40–59, based on expenditure data from a major US health care insurance plan for 702,154 women in the years 2011–13. The average expenditures for each false-positive mammogram, invasive breast cancer, and ductal carcinoma in situ in the twelve months following diagnosis were $852, $51,837 and $12,369, respectively. This translates to a national cost of $4 billion each year. The costs associated with false-positive mammograms and breast cancer over diagnoses appear to be much higher than previously documented. Screening has the potential to save lives. However, the economic impact of false-positive mammography results and breast cancer over diagnoses must be considered in the debate about the appropriate populations for screening.

1. Mei-Sing Ong1 and
2. Kenneth D. Mandl2,*

+ Author Affiliations

1. ¹Mei-Sing Ong is a research fellow at Boston Children’s Hospital, in Massachusetts, and a research fellow at the Australian Institute of Health Innovation, Macquarie University, in Sydney, Australia.
2. ²Kenneth D. Mandl (Kenneth_Mandl@harvard.edu) is a professor at Harvard Medical School and director of the Children’s Hospital Informatics Program at Boston Children’s Hospital.

1. ↵*Corresponding author

doi: 10.1377/hlthaff.2014.1087 Health Aff April 2015 vol. 34 no. 4 576-583