Medicare patients not getting cancer screenings often enough

ROCKVILLE, Md. A study by researchers at the University of North Carolina shows that screening rates for certain types of cancer among older Medicaid patients lag behind national objectives.

The study, published in the Oct. 13 issue of the Archives of Internal Medicine and based on documented evidence, analyzed 1,951 Medicaid recipients in North Carolina aged 50 and older and found that physicians recommended screening for colorectal, breast and cervical cancer to 52.7 percent, 60.4 percent and 51.5 percent of patients, respectively.

Respective rates of adequate screening for the three cancers were 28.2 percent, 31.7 percent and 31.6 percent.