The proposed project aims to evaluate the outcomes of Texas’s Breast and Cervical Cancer Services (BCCS) Program using the Texas BCCS Program data linked to the Texas Cancer Registry (TCR). It is anticipated that other variables being equal, BCCS Program participants with breast cancer have better outcomes than similar women who did not receive screening, diagnosis, case management, or Medicaid coverage through the program. The project also aims to understand the benefits and failings in the Texas BCCS program and develop innovative strategies for program improvement and/or expansion.

In order to achieve these aims the project team will create a database of linked TCR data and BCCS program d...

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The proposed project aims to evaluate the outcomes of Texas’s Breast and Cervical Cancer Services (BCCS) Program using the Texas BCCS Program data linked to the Texas Cancer Registry (TCR). It is anticipated that other variables being equal, BCCS Program participants with breast cancer have better outcomes than similar women who did not receive screening, diagnosis, case management, or Medicaid coverage through the program. The project also aims to understand the benefits and failings in the Texas BCCS program and develop innovative strategies for program improvement and/or expansion.

In order to achieve these aims, the project team will create a database of linked TCR data and BCCS program data to identify patients diagnosed with breast cancer in 1995-2007 by the BCCS program and determine their screening and diagnostic history. The BCCS participants with breast cancer will then be matched with a cohort of non-participant breast cancer patients with no services billed to BCCS. Demographic data on each patient will be obtained and socio-economic status will be estimated based on Census data at the census tract level.

We will then compare outcomes of both cohorts including stage at diagnosis, time from diagnosis to treatment, type of treatment, and survival. We will further subdivide the BCCS participants by their screening history and Medicaid coverage to examine differences in outcomes between groups within the program.

After completing the outcomes study we will convene a group of BCCS program experts from within and outside the state government to examine the results and translate them into an action plan for improving the BCCS program and/or expanding it.

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