NEW YORK (Reuters) -- A large pharmaceutical company has found that work-site screening for breast cancer saves lives and healthcare costs.
"Programs like ours, in fact, save lives," said A. Keith Willard, chairman of Zeneca, Inc., of Wilmington, Delaware. "Saving lives and saving dollars, that's a win-win strategy and one that we intend to bring to the attention of corporate America."
Zeneca began its work-site screening program in 1989. Since its inception, the program has enrolled 1,416 female employees, and performed 2,498 mammograms that detected 12 cases of early stage breast cancer.
Mrs. Anita Barthelson is one of the 12 women in the program who had breast cancer diagnosed following a positive mammogram. "If it were not for the Zeneca screening program, I don't believe that I would be alive today," she said.
According to data provided by Zeneca, direct costs for treatment of the stage 1 breast cancer cases which were detected was $400,000, compared to $1.5 million it would have cost Zeneca for treatment if these cases were detected at a later stage. These are direct healthcare costs that do not include costs due to absenteeism and employee turnover.
In addition, the program has a 97% program participation rate. "That's more than twice the national mammography compliance rate," said Willard.
According to a Harris Poll taken in September of this year, 83% of women questioned said they would utilize the work-site screening programs if they were available.
"A mammogram never saved anyone's life, rather it is the treatment of early cancer detected by mammography," said Dr. Nancy C. Lee, associate director for science at the Division of Cancer Prevention and Control from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Lee noted that through work-site screening, "You can remove the barriers of time, and of travel."
And it seems this is enough to convince Rite Aid. The national pharmacy chain says it will begin work-site screening on October 16th for its employees. Rite Aid will provide on-site mammograms for 500 female employees at its headquarters in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.
This October marks the 11th year of National Breast Cancer Awareness Month, a time designated by government and nonprofit agencies to educate women about the prevention, detection, and treatment of breast cancer.
Sponsors of National Breast Cancer Awareness Month include the American Cancer Society, National Cancer Institute, The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the National Alliance of Breast Cancer Organizations.
Highlights of National Breast Cancer Awareness month will include National Mammography Day on Friday, October 18. The goal of this day is to encourage women to commit to having a mammogram.
The American Cancer Society recommends women without a history of the disease have a mammogram every other year, and that women age 50 and older have yearly mammograms. They also recommend that all women over age 20 conduct monthly breast self-examinations.
