Enabling Access to Quality Breast Care & Early Detection in Underserved Areas
​​​​The Problem
Kentucky has one of the highest rates of breast cancer mortality in the U.S., largely due to late detection caused by:
-
Lack of patients' access to quality care (especially in underserved areas).
-
Insurance / financial obstacles for patients.​
​​
-
Lack of training / jobs for medical professionals (to become certified).​
​
As this video report from NBC Nightly News demonstrates... access to subspecialist care directly impacts patient survival rates.
​
Because the percentage of people developing breast cancer is increasing, the need for early detection is more important than ever, especially since some of these cancers can double in size within 90 days.
Our Solution
Within underserved areas, we enable access to affordable, quality breast imaging services (only done by fellowship-trained breast subspecialists, with specialty-trained staff and specialized equipment) to reduce the risk of late-stage breast cancer diagnosis.
Our Activities
This foundation's activities are 100% focused on enabling subspecialist breast care within "health care deserts" (underserved geographic areas where there is a lack of affordable subspecialist care options for people within those communities). We also help develop the workforce. Funds from this foundation will ONLY be directed to clinics that meet all of the following criteria:
-
Outpatient clinics (where the cost of medical care is at least 50% less than hospital-owned facilities).
-
Only breast subspecialists (fellowship-trained MDs) and subspecialist-trained staff provide the medical care (to ensure consistency, compliance with medical care guidelines and quality care).
-
Clinics that have subspecialists "on staff" for 90% of services provided, (as opposed to using "locum tenants" or MDs temporarily stationed, who do not have as strong of a long-term commitment to the local community).
-
Clinics that are located in underserved geographical areas, that have difficulty attracting top medical talent, technologies or service.
All funds received by this foundation will be allocated to purchase and/or maintain specialized equipment, subsidize training and/or staff salaries (to be competitive with rural hospitals which receive special funding from state legislation). ​
Our activities directly improve access to essential health care services for underserved populations. By providing affordable mammography/ultrasound/CT imaging services, specialty training, education and early detection programs, we address critical health disparities, enable early detection and reduce the time period from diagnosis to treatment. In addition to reducing barriers to preventive care, these "good outcomes" also reduce the overall cost of healthcare. ​
Our activities align with our charitable mission to mitigate economic and geographic obstacles to care, which enables early detection of breast cancer, as well as avoids or minimizes the costs of corrective treatment (or death).
Results
​​Via the results achieved at Kentucky Breast Care & Somerset Family Imaging: since 2012, thousands of patients (from 12 states) have benefited from access to subspecialist breast care. Via proper image interpretation, subspecialists detect cancers early (when the cancer is treatable) and save lives, but also reduce the number of "false positives", which has helped patients avoid unnecessary anxiety.
​
Additional Details:
-
This clinic provides unbiased diagnoses (the clinic does not benefit from potential surgeries or other treatments). The patient is empowered with the ability to make informed decisions about their health.
-
If cancer is found, the subspecialist and the clinic team coordinate resources to minimize the time (and patient anxiety) from diagnosis to biopsy, treatment and verification that cancer is mitigated. Treatment times are usually reduced from months to weeks.
-
Sometimes, a patient's journey may involve additional unbiased experts to optimize the treatment choice/blend of treatments including: chemotherapy, radiation, surgery, hormone therapy and gene testing.
-
Unlike many other medical systems, the clinic "quarterbacks" a patient's treatment and follow-up visits to verify that a problem is mitigated to the best possible outcome or resolved completely.
-
-
The approaches above minimize the number of surgeries (and overall healthcare costs), while improving effectiveness and survivability.
​
Via our foundation, this clinic's proprietary processes can be modeled/replicated and expanded to a larger population for an even greater impact.
“We envision a future where every individual in Kentucky, regardless of their circumstances, has access to quality breast health services and a reduced risk of late-stage breast cancer diagnosis."
Dr. Andrea Woodroof, MD
CEO - Breast Care Foundation
Fellowship-Trained Breast Subspecialist
