Prostate cancer screenings: high Medicare spending though small advantage for comparison men


Prostate cancer screening has small advantage for organisation aged 75 and older, nonetheless over 3 years, a Medicare fee-for-service module spent $447 million annually on PSA-based screenings – one-third of that was for organisation in a over 75 age group, according to investigate by researchers during a Yale Cancer Outcomes, Public Policy, and Effectiveness Research (COPPER) Center.

Published in a Oct. 4 emanate of a biography Cancer, a investigate also found substantial geographic movement in a cost of prostate cancer screening.

Many prostate cancers are slow-growing and doubtful to turn problematic. Widespread screening with a serum-based PSA exam might outcome in nonessential invasive biopsies, that can be a earthy weight or even harmful. In 2012, a U.S. Preventative Services Task Force motionless to stop recommending PSA screening for organisation of any age. Medicare, however, continues to repay for this exam and a successive procedures.

Lead author Xiaomei Ma, associate highbrow during Yale School of Public Health, and her Yale COPPER Center colleagues conducted an observational investigate of older