To improve access to screening, Congress passed the Breast and Cervical Cancer Mortality Prevention Act of 1990, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) created the National Breast and Cervical Cancer Early Detection Program (NBCCEDP). The NBCCEDP funds all 50 states, the District of Columbia, 5 U.S. territories, and 11 American Indian/Alaska Native tribes or tribal organizations
to provide screening services for breast and cervical cancer. The program helps low-income, uninsured, and underinsured women gain access to breast and cervical cancer screening and diagnostic services. The Division of Public and Behavioral Health receives funding from NBCCEDP to conduct the Women’s Health Connection (WHC) Program through a competitive grant process. Since its inception in 1997, WHC has been 100% federally funded through NBCCEDP and has provided breast and cervical cancer screening services to over 50,373 women in Nevada. The goal of this program is to reduce breast and cervical cancer morbidity and mortality rates of medically underserved women in Nevada. This is accomplished through education, screening, diagnosis, and treatment. As a result of the Breast and Cervical Cancer Prevention and Treatment Act of 2000, eligible women screened and diagnosed with breast or cervical cancer, or found to have high grade cervical pre-cancer diagnosed through the Women’s Health Connection Program have access to treatment services through Medicaid if eligible. The priority populations for WHC cervical screenings are 40 to 64 years old women, and for WHC breast screenings the priority populations are 50 to 64 years old women. Below is a summary of the screening services that are available to Nevada eligible women:
* Age 40 years and older:
* Annual pelvic exam
* Pap test or co-testing (Pap and HPV test) as recommended by the examining clinician
* Annual clinical breast exam
* Diagnostic services after an abnormal screening result
* Referral for treatment
Age 50 and older:
* All services above plus an annual screening mammogram
Similarly, the Colorectal Cancer Control Program (CRCCP) was launched in 2009 by the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) to support and increase population-based screening efforts and provide FREE colorectal cancer screening services to low-income men and women aged 50-64 years who are uninsured or underinsured.
