Skip to main content
An official website of the United States government
Grant Details

Grant Number: 5R01CA072076-06 Interpret this number
Primary Investigator: Freeman, Jean
Organization: University Of Texas Medical Br Galveston
Project Title: Evaluating Mammography Claims Data
Fiscal Year: 2001


Abstract

Despite its proven efficacy in reducing breast cancer mortality, little is known about the effectiveness of screening mammography in community practice. Of particular concern is its specificity outside academic medical settings and the implications of false positives on patient outcomes and costs of care. These are major issues for older women since surveys of mammography use have documented large increases in the rate of routine screening, especially for women over age 65. Monitoring trends in the use of screening mammography, assessing the accuracy of mammography in community practice and studying outcomes of routine screening in terms of follow-up procedures have been targeted by the Institute of Medicine as important topics for effectiveness research in breast cancer that might be initially addressed with Medicare claims data. Our current research is aimed at identifying potential uses and limitations of the claims data for mammography effectiveness research. Our goals for the competing renewal are to: 1) continue the validation studies by assessing the completeness of mammography in the claims; 2) examine correlates of the use and outcomes of screening mammograms; 3) describe changes in screening mammography outcomes over time (1993-1996) and 4) assess the effectiveness of mammography screening in community practice. Of particular interest is the comparison of completeness, use, outcomes and effectiveness for women age 65-74 versus women age 75 and older. Potential sources of missing mammograms in the claims will be examined by trying to link the radiology reports of Medicare beneficiaries who received mammograms in selected facilities to the Medicare claims data. The evaluation of use, outcomes and effectiveness will be conducted with the SEER-Medicare linked database and the sample of non-cancer controls. Measures of use and outcomes will be derived from these data and compared across the two age groups, the nine SEER areas and the four years from 1993 through 1996. The effect of screening mammography on breast cancer survival will be estimated for the two age groups by examining the screening practices from 1991-1994 for a cohort of SEER breast cancer cases diagnosed in 1995. Analyses will compare the size of tumor, stage and survival for women with different screening practices.



Publications

Reducing the effects of lead-time bias, length bias and over-detection in evaluating screening mammography: a censored bivariate data approach.
Authors: Mahnken J.D. , Chan W. , Freeman D.H. , Freeman J.L. .
Source: Statistical Methods In Medical Research, 2008 Dec; 17(6), p. 643-63.
PMID: 18445697
Related Citations

Comorbid disease and cancer: the need for more relevant conceptual models in health services research.
Authors: Geraci J.M. , Escalante C.P. , Freeman J.L. , Goodwin J.S. .
Source: Journal Of Clinical Oncology : Official Journal Of The American Society Of Clinical Oncology, 2005-10-20 00:00:00.0; 23(30), p. 7399-404.
PMID: 16234509
Related Citations

Using Medicare data to estimate the prevalence of breast cancer screening in older women: comparison of different methods to identify screening mammograms.
Authors: Randolph W.M. , Mahnken J.D. , Goodwin J.S. , Freeman J.L. .
Source: Health Services Research, 2002 Dec; 37(6), p. 1643-57.
PMID: 12546290
Related Citations

Regular mammography use is associated with elimination of age-related disparities in size and stage of breast cancer at diagnosis.
Authors: Randolph W.M. , Goodwin J.S. , Mahnken J.D. , Freeman J.L. .
Source: Annals Of Internal Medicine, 2002-11-19 00:00:00.0; 137(10), p. 783-90.
PMID: 12435214
Related Citations

Measuring breast, colorectal, and prostate cancer screening with medicare claims data.
Authors: Freeman J.L. , Klabunde C.N. , Schussler N. , Warren J.L. , Virnig B.A. , Cooper G.S. .
Source: Medical Care, 2002 Aug; 40(8 Suppl), p. IV-36-42.
PMID: 12187166
Related Citations

Studying radiation therapy using SEER-Medicare-linked data.
Authors: Virnig B.A. , Warren J.L. , Cooper G.S. , Klabunde C.N. , Schussler N. , Freeman J. .
Source: Medical Care, 2002 Aug; 40(8 Suppl), p. IV-49-54.
PMID: 12187168
Related Citations

A non-parametric method for the comparison of partial areas under ROC curves and its application to large health care data sets.
Authors: Zhang D.D. , Zhou X.H. , Freeman D.H. , Freeman J.L. .
Source: Statistics In Medicine, 2002-03-15 00:00:00.0; 21(5), p. 701-15.
PMID: 11870811
Related Citations

Accuracy and completeness of Medicare claims data for surgical treatment of breast cancer.
Authors: Du X. , Freeman J.L. , Warren J.L. , Nattinger A.B. , Zhang D. , Goodwin J.S. .
Source: Medical Care, 2000 Jul; 38(7), p. 719-27.
PMID: 10901355
Related Citations

Information on radiation treatment in patients with breast cancer: the advantages of the linked medicare and SEER data. Surveillance, Epidemiology and End Results.
Authors: Du X. , Freeman J.L. , Goodwin J.S. .
Source: Journal Of Clinical Epidemiology, 1999 May; 52(5), p. 463-70.
PMID: 10360342
Related Citations

The declining use of axillary dissection in patients with early stage breast cancer.
Authors: Du X. , Freeman J.L. , Goodwin J.S. .
Source: Breast Cancer Research And Treatment, 1999 Jan; 53(2), p. 137-44.
PMID: 10326790
Related Citations



Back to Top