Recognizing Breast Cancer Awareness Month

Throughout Breast Cancer Awareness Month, providers across Connecticut’s healthcare continuum reaffirm their commitment to advancing innovative approaches to prevent, detect, and treat breast cancer.  Connecticut’s hospitals and health systems are here to educate patients about their risk, guide them through the screening process, and tackle the disease after diagnosis.

Thanks to dedicated advocates, Connecticut has been a pioneer in early breast cancer detection efforts.  In 2009, the state became the first to enact a law requiring providers to notify patients getting mammograms about breast density, including how it can be more difficult to spot cancer in denser breast tissue.  This September, the U.S. Food & Drug Administration (FDA) followed suit, establishing federal regulations to ensure consistent quality and reporting standards at facilities across the country.

Connecticut law also requires fully insured commercial health insurance to cover mammograms, ultrasounds, MRIs, breast biopsies, certain prophylactic mastectomies, breast removal due to tumors, breast reconstruction surgery, and genetic testing for patients with a family history of breast cancer, subject to certain conditions — all services generally required to be provided at no out-of-pocket cost.

As research reveals incidents of breast cancer are rising among younger patients — and Black, Asian American/Pacific Islander, and Native American and Alaska Native women are at greater risk of mortality than white women — the results are a reminder that enhancing health equity and expanding access to high-quality healthcare must remain a top priority in Connecticut.

The Connecticut Early Detection and Prevention Program (CEDPP) helps women get doctor’s appointments, mammograms, pap tests, HPV tests, cardiovascular screenings, and more.  Click here to learn about the Connecticut Breast and Cervical Cancer Early Detection Program (CBCCEDP).