Breast Cancer Patients Deserve Better: Policy Must Support Innovation

October is National Breast Cancer Awareness Month. During this time, those of us in the advocacy community take stock of the millions of lives that have been affected forever by this dreadful disease. Breast cancer ranks second as a cause of death in women. Each year, about 230,000 women, and more than 2,000 men, receive a diagnosis of invasive breast cancer. Cancer survivors, caregivers and doctors tell us that the most powerful weapons against breast cancer are early detection and the elimination of “trial and error” therapies. This is accomplished by pinpointing the most effective treatment options immediately after diagnosis. Fortunately, new tests are in place that can help a patient make these decisions. Unfortunately, treatment options also are shaped by health care reimbursement policies. Maintaining the highest quality care with the greatest efficiency is a strong mandate in the health care system. Yet, extreme cost cutting measures have sometimes been implemented instead of targeting strategic areas of cost savings. This can cause patients to suffer from ineffective and sometimes painful treatments that they should not have to endure. We are seeing again that those in Washington, D.C., are putting cost control before treatments. We all can show our support for breast cancer patients by wearing pink, but that is not enough. We need to make sure policymakers hear from us too. The impact of their decisions could obstruct access to new tests for hundreds of thousand...
Source: Disruptive Women in Health Care - Category: Health Medicine and Bioethics Commentators Authors: Tags: Uncategorized Source Type: blogs