Breast Cancer Evaluation Measures

Once a company has conducted assessment and planning for breast cancer screening programs and developed the specific tasks of implementation for these programs, it is time to develop the evaluation plan. This evaluation plan should be in place before any program implementation has begun.

Metrics for worker productivity, health care costs, health outcomes, and organizational change allow measurement of the beginning (baseline), middle (process), and results (outcome) of workplace health programs. It is not necessary to use all these metrics for evaluating programs. Some information may be difficult or costly to collect or may not fit the operational structure of a company. These lists are only suggested approaches that may be useful in designing an evaluation plan.

These measures are designed for employee group assessment. They are not intended for examining an individual’s progress over time, which would raise concerns of employee confidentiality. For employer purposes, individual-level measures should be collected anonymously and only reported (typically by a third-party administrator) in the aggregate, because the company’s major concerns are overall changes in productivity, health care costs, and employee satisfaction.

In general, data from the previous 12 months will provide sufficient baseline information and can be used in establishing the program goals and objectives in the planning phase, and in assessing progress toward goals in the evaluation phase. Ongoing measurements every 6 to 12 months after programs begin are usually appropriate measurement intervals, but measurement timing should be adapted to the expectations of the specific program.

Mammography screening is a valuable early detection tool that can identify breast cancer at an early stage when treatment is more effective and less expensive.

• In 2017, more than 250,000 women were diagnosed with breast cancer, and 42,000 women died as a result of breast cancer¹
• Mammography screening is a valuable early detection tool that can identify breast cancer at an early stage when treatment is more effective and less expensive. The 5-year survival rate for patients diagnosed with localized breast cancer is 99%, compared to about 27% of those diagnosed at the most advanced stage²
• Breast cancer has the highest treatment cost of any cancer. Thirteen percent of all cancer treatment costs in the United States are for breast cancer³