Analysis of the barriers to breast cancer screening in an HMO population in San Diego including a segmentation by stage of change, ethnicity, and region of San Diego county

In the summer of 2007, Sharp Health Plan in San Diego, CA conducted a breast cancer screening barrier analysis study. The decision to perform a barrier analysis arose after the completion of an intervention in 2006 of two waves of reminder postcards with an appointment tracker format were followed by automated reminder phone calls; resulting in approximately 70% of the members receiving their screening mammograms. In this study, we attempted to reach over 700 non-compliant members aged 52 – 69 years who were eligible yet who had not received screening mammography in the prior 2 years. Personal phone calls to non-compliant members were performed using a survey which asked about recall of the intervention, determined the stage of change of the member, and assessed the barriers for mammography. We also asked the member's race and ethnicity if not already in the database.