Campaign free MRIs for dense breasts
I think it is about time we campaigned for MRIs to be standard for women with dense breasts and for women newly diagnosed with breast cancer. Who out there knows if they have dense breasts? Don't c...
Forum Discussion
Hi Suzie,
It’s Lisa from the Policy Team. Thanks very much for your post. I wanted to let you know about an application currently before the Medical Services Advisory Committee (MSAC). MSAC is the committee that provides advice to the Australian Minister for Health about the safety, effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of new medical procedures and technologies.
The application before MSAC calls for Medicare rebates for breast MRI to be extended for a number of new purposes, including for women who’ve been newly diagnosed with breast cancer who have very dense breasts which make it hard for clinicians to properly assess a tumour using a mammogram.
BCNA made a submission in support of this application. In our submission, we said that women with dense breast tissue should be able to access the type of imaging that is most appropriate for them, including breast MRI. We also highlighted the high out-of-pocket costs many women have to pay for breast MRI scans. More information and a link to our submission can be found on our website.
MSAC will be considering the application in March. We will post the outcomes on our website when they are available.