After pushing mammograms for years, breast cancer advocates have had a hard time pulling back. Still the evidence keep piling up that message about surviving breast cancer is more complicated than early detection. What this study by Boston researchers doesn’t measure: the scores of women who say — If there’s a chance it’s cancer, I want to know. From the AP, in the back pages of the Globe A section; buried in the web site.
Sharpening a medical debate about the costs and benefits of cancer screening, a new report estimates that the United States spends $4 billion a year on unnecessary medical costs due to mammograms that generate false alarms, and on treatment of certain breast tumors unlikely to cause problems.
Some of the most advanced medical centers are starting to make medical information more available to patients. Brigham and Women’s, where Mr. (Steven) Keating had his surgery, is part of the Partners HealthCare Group, which now has 500,000 patients with web access to some of the information in their health records including conditions, medications and test results.
Other medical groups are beginning to allow patients online access to the notes taken by physicians about them, in an initiative called OpenNotes. In a yearlong evaluation project at medical groups in three states, more than two-thirds of the patients reported having a better understanding of their health and medical conditions, adopting healthier habits and taking their medications as prescribed more regularly.
Some patient advocates have been pushing for this for years, and having a little fun with it.
Boston Health News 