MISSOURI
Mammography Capacity & Quality Project
Understanding our community’s mammography capacity, helping facilities with new FDA requirements, and improving mammography capacity and quality for all Missourians.
Gateway to Hope has been awarded a three-year grant from the Missouri Foundation for Health to explore how mammography quality and facility care processes may be contributing to breast cancer disparities, specifically how lack of access to timely quality screenings and diagnostic follow-up contribute to poorer outcomes for low-income, women of color, and rural patients.
Where someone receives their mammogram shouldn’t impact their chance of surviving breast cancer — but it does.
Partnering with experts at the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC) who were instrumental in the Illinois initiative, Gateway to Hope aims to partner with facilities in the St. Louis region and Missouri on 5 key goals:
Understand mammography capacity and quality in Missouri.
Work together to improve the consistency of mammography for all in Missouri.
Assist facilities with the new FDA quality measurement requirements.
Develop collaborative opportunities and provide such opportunities at no cost to facilities, especially safety net or crisis care facilities.
Identify areas in Missouri where screening rates are low so that we can engage, in additional outreach to promote screening and early detection.
Be part of the first-ever assessment of Missouri's mammography baseline.
With your help, we will develop the first state-wide report on Missouri’s mammography capacity, consistency, and quality. This comprehensive report will highlight regional and state-wide gaps in access, allowing us to identify areas where improvements are most needed.