| Releases & Statements
Contact: Frank Sobrino
O: (212) 669-4193
For Immediate Release: Tuesday, August
30, 2006
Gotbaum
Finds Wait for Free and Low-Cost
HHC Mammograms Far Longer than Mayor’s Goal
Women who seek a free or low-cost
mammography screening offered by the City’s Health and Hospitals
Corporation are likely to face a wait longer than reported in
the 2006 Preliminary Mayor’s Management Report and far longer
than the seven-day target maximum set by Mayor Bloomberg, according
to a new report by Public Advocate Betsy Gotbaum released today.
Investigators from the Public Advocate’s
Office made multiple calls to each of 15 HHC facilities offering
free or low-cost mammograms in the Bronx, Brooklyn, Manhattan,
and Queens (no such service is currently available in Staten Island)
and asked staff at the clinics for the date of the first available
appointment for a routine mammogram. They found the following:
· The average wait time for
a mammogram appointment at an HHC facility is 24 days. This is
11 days longer than the average wait time reported in the 2006
PMMR and 21 days longer than reported for Fiscal Year 2003.
· Ten facilities (67 percent)
failed to meet the target wait time of seven days set in the 2006
PMMR.
· Five facilities had a wait
time of 30 days or more. At two HHC facilities, the wait times
were almost two months or longer: 58 days at East New York Diagnostic
and Treatment Center and 75 days at Bellevue Hospital Center.
· 311 operators provided inaccurate
telephone numbers for HHC mammogram facilities and conflicting
information regarding whether or not a HHC site provided mammograms.
“Many low-income and uninsured
women depend on the City to provide free and low-cost screening,”
Gotbaum said. “But if the wait times are excessive, they
may be discouraged from taking advantage of the service. And that’s
a serious problem because we know that routine screening decreases
the risk of breast cancer death by more than 30 percent.”
Gotbaum noted that HHC in part attributes
long wait times to technician vacancies. Radiologic technologists
who specialize in mammography are in short supply. The number
of radiologic technologists in general is estimated to decrease
by 22 percent by 2025. Gotbaum recommended that HHC recruit mammogram
technicians to fill existing vacancies.
Among Gotbaum’s other recommendations
are the following:
· Offer free and/or low-cost
mammograms to Staten Island residents to increase the screening
rate among low-income women on Staten Island and reduce related
mortality rates among this population of women.
· Ensure that 311 operators
provide the correct facilities and telephone numbers to callers
seeking information about mammograms.
· Ensure that all appropriate
staff at HHC facilities offering mammograms is aware of whether
the facility provides free or low-cost mammograms and offer full
information about those services, including eligibility requirements,
to individuals who inquire.
· Review machine maintenance
and repair schedules to ensure such work is not performed during
appointment hours so as to avoid a reduction in available mammogram
appointment slots. In addition, replace consistently problematic
machines with new ones on a timely basis.
“It’s inevitable that
there will be some wait time for a service like this,” Gotbaum
said. “But there’s more the City can and must do to
both reduce wait times and encourage more women to get screened.
Fixing this problem is a vital part of the administration’s
responsibility to safeguard public health.”
According to a 2004 Department of
Health and Mental Hygiene (DOHMH) Community Health Survey, 23
percent of New York City women age 40 and older have not had a
mammogram within the last two years. Of these women, 32 percent
were Asian American, 24 percent were Caucasian, 21 percent were
African American, 20 percent were Hispanic, and 21 percent identified
themselves as “other.”
Of women in New York City, those who
live in Manhattan and Staten Island have the highest annual breast
cancer incidence rates, 132.7 and 127.1 per 100,000 women, respectively,
as well as the highest mortality rates per 100,000 women, 26.8
and 30.0, respectively. According to a 2004 DOHMH Community Health
survey, of all New York City women who reported incomes between
100 percent and 199 percent of the poverty level, residents of
Staten Island had the lowest screening rates. Of women who reported
incomes between 200 percent and 599 percent of the poverty level,
Manhattan women had the lowest screening rates.
* * *
Missing
the Mark: HHC Mammogram Wait Time Off Target August 2006
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