Rise in Mammograms Procedures Tied To Obamacare

According to a new study, the number of Medicare patients getting mammograms increased slightly, but significantly, in the first three years of U.S. healthcare reform. The researchers focused on Accountable Care Organizations, which were created as part of the Affordable Care Act. Lead author Dr. Anand Narayan, a clinical epidemiologist at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore, said, "The Affordable Care Act encourages experimentation with alternative-payment models." For the study, researchers reviewed Medicare data for women, aged 40 to 69. The women had screening mammograms between 2012 and 2014. Over the study period, the ACOs reported a 2.6 percent increase in screening mammograms.