Murkowski cosponsors Senate bill to pay providers for breast cancer risk assessments

Providers would be reimbursed for giving patients a comprehensive breast cancer risk assessment and building a personalized screening and risk-reduction plan, under a bill introduced Wednesday in the U.S. Senate. Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska is a cosponsor.

The bill, sponsored by Sen. Bill Cassidy of Louisiana, would create the payment model through a change to the Social Security Act. It's now before the Senate Finance Committee.

The cost of imaging beyond a routine mammogram falls especially hard in rural Alaska, where specialty imaging often means traveling long distances, and where added out-of-pocket costs can weigh heavily on Alaska Native and Indigenous women. Advocacy groups including Susan G. Komen argue that cost-sharing for medically necessary diagnostic and supplemental imaging, such as MRIs and ultrasounds, can delay detection and treatment.

Two other pending proposals target those imaging costs directly. The Access to Breast Cancer Diagnosis Act would bar cost-sharing for diagnostic and supplemental breast exams, and the House's Find It Early Act would require coverage without cost-sharing for mammograms, ultrasound, MRI and other imaging for people at increased risk. The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force currently recommends a screening mammogram every two years for women ages 40 to 74, and says the evidence isn't yet clear on supplemental ultrasound or MRI for women at average risk.