Identifying Local Barriers to Mammography in Women Served by a Rural Acute Care Hospital

Prairie Ridge Health (PRH), in partnership with the University of Wisconsin-Madison (UW), sought to understand barriers and facilitators to screening mammography faced by women living in the catchment area of this critical access hospital located in Columbus, WI. We conducted virtual interviews with PRH staff, virtual focus groups with women from the community, and a survey (online and paper copy) of women ≥ 40 years to collect insights from multiple stakeholders.

PRH staff and focus group participants reported similar facilitators (clinician recommendation, positive experience with scheduling) and barriers (insurance, lack of convenient appointment times/problems with scheduling) to screening mammography. Among survey participants (n=307), 50% had their last screening mammography at PRH, 91% reported seeing a health care provider in the past 12 months, and 85% had a health care provider recommending they get screened for breast cancer. The survey responses regarding mammography screening at the rural hospital were favorable.

Future projects will concentrate efforts to address the barriers identified, reach rural women not engaged with the health system, and improve education regarding mammography screening.

Authors:
Cibele B. Carroll, MD, PhD¹
Amye J. Tevaarwerk, MD²
Mary F. Henningfield, PhD^3,5
Alice S. Yuroff, PhD^3,5
Cathy Bolan, RNC⁴
Katy Geiger, MBA, RN, BSN⁴
Earlise C. Ward, PhD^1,5
Sarina Schrager, MD, MS^3,5

1 UW Carbone Cancer Center, Madison WI
2  Mayo Clinic Cancer Center, Rochester MN
3 Wisconsin Research and Education Network (WREN), Madison WI
4 Prairie Ridge Health, Columbus WI
5 UW Department of Family Medicine and Community Health, Madison, WI