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By Rebecca V. Snowden

Mammograms save lives. Unfortunately, many women still aren't getting this important breast cancer screening test. And even among those who are, many are getting screened later than recommended or waiting too long between mammograms.

Improving those numbers could simply be a matter of putting better reminder systems in place. According to a new study by researchers at Kaiser Permanente Northwest, mammogram reminders – a postcard by mail, followed by a phone call – increased the number of women who came in for their test.

"The Kaiser Permanente study confirms, on a large scale, what numerous smaller studies have been showing for years -- reminder systems in almost every form increase cancer screening rates," says Robert A. Smith, PhD, director, cancer screening at the American Cancer Society.

The American Cancer Society recommends yearly mammograms for women age 40 and older. (Certain women at high risk for the disease should get an MRI annually, as well.) Yet only about half of women aged 40 and older follow this guidance, according to Cancer Prevention and Early Detection Facts and Figures 2009, the American Cancer Society's annual cancer statistics report.

To see if they could improve mammography rates, researchers studied over 35,000 women who received care at Kaiser Permanente Northwest, located in Washington and Oregon.

The study group included women aged 42 or more and who were 20 months past their mammogram due date, targeting women aged 50-69. Researchers mailed out "mammogram past due" notifications, followed up by 2 automated phone calls, and one live phone call for those who didn’t respond. The women were tracked in three stages: a "pre-reminder" phase, a "post-reminder" phase, and a "maintenance" phase.

Pre-reminder, 63.4% of women aged 50-69 had had a mammogram; post-reminder, over 75% had. And in the "maintenance" phase, 80.6% had been screened.

The results were published in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine.

The researchers hope the success of this program leads to even more large-scale mammography reminder programs.

"Regular screening is critical to insuring the greatest likelihood of detecting cancer early. The value of reminder systems is well established, and the Kaiser study shows that they can be very effective on a mass scale. Ideally, the health care reforms that we can look forward to will include reminder systems for cancer screening for all adults," says Smith.

If your healthcare provider doesn’t currently offer a screening reminder program, consider signing up for the American Cancer Society's mammogram reminder tool, an easy-to-use system that will email you a reminder to schedule your mammogram. You can even use the tool to send reminders to the women in your life.

Breast cancer is the most common cancer among American women (excluding skin cancer) and is the second leading cause of cancer deaths. The chance of developing invasive breast cancer at some time in a woman's life is about 1 in 8 (12%). In 2009, an estimated 192,370 new cases of invasive breast cancer will be diagnosed among women in the United States.

Current evidence supporting mammograms is even stronger than in the past, and doctors estimate the tests could save many thousands of lives each year. Fear keeps many women from getting tested, though. If you're nervous about getting a mammogram, listen to some real women talk about their experience.

For more information on reducing your chances of getting breast cancer, see "Can Breast Cancer Be Prevented?"

Reviewed by: Members of the ACS Medical Content Staff

Citation: "Effect of Multimodal Reminder Program on Repeat Mammogram Screening." Published online July 14, 2009 in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine. Corresponding author: Adrianne C. Feldstein, MD, MS, Center for Health Research, Kaiser Permanente Northwest, Portland, Oregon.