Prevention is taking steps to avoid disease or help find a disease early so it is easier to treat. Examples are getting tests to screen for cancer and flu shots when they are recommended for someone your age and sex.

Only 42% of adults over the age of 50 in Washington State have received recommended preventive care, such as screening for colorectal cancer, mammograms, Pap smears, and flu shots at appropriate ages. If Washington state improved to the rate of the best-performing state, over 158,000 additional adults would receive care to help prevent and detect disease. Source: Commonwealth Fund.

The value of prevention - or the specific 'return on investment' for those paying the total cost of health care - varies for each type of screening test. All of the recommended tests that are measured in this report - screening for breast cancer, cervical cancer, Chlamydia, and colon cancer - are strongly recommended by the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force. Screening helps doctors identify conditions in their early stages, when treatment is far less expensive and more likely to succeed. For example, according to the National Business Group on Health's Purchaser's Guide to Clinical Preventive Services, the cost of treating a single case of early-stage cervical cancer averages $20,255, while the cost of treating a single case of the same disease in the late-stage averages $36,912 (both are year 2000 dollars). The Guide also states the cost of treating late-stage colon cancer is more than double the cost of treating it in early stages.

Patients and Caregivers

• Plan and get regular preventive care visits with your doctor.
• If you are a woman age 40 or older, get a mammogram once every one or two years. If you are age 50 to 69, annual mammograms are strongly recommended.
• If you are age 50 or older, talk with your doctor about testing for colon cancer, then do it!
• If you are a woman age 21 to 64, have a Pap test for cervical cancer at least every three years, or on a schedule recommended by your doctor. (Women under age 21 who are sexually active should talk with their doctor about getting a Pap test too.)
• If you are a sexually active woman age 16 to 25, get tested for Chlamydia at least annually.

Doctors and Other Health Care Professionals

• Schedule regular preventive care visits for all patients.
• Offer information about recommended screening tests.
• Recommend immunizations and flu shots; discuss activity and nutrition; review medication; screen patients for depression, substance abuse and use of alcohol or tobacco.
• Work with patients to set goals to improve health and manage chronic conditions.
• Track your patients over time to determine if they receive the recommended screenings.
• Send patients reminders when they are due for preventive tests.

Employers and Other Health Care Purchasers

• Help employees focus on physical activity and nutrition in the workplace. Create a 'culture of wellness' such as providing healthy food choices and opportunities for physical activity.
• Offer incentives to employees to participate in wellness activities.
• Make it easy for employees to get flu shots every year.
• Provide health benefits that cover prevention (preventive visits, screenings, immunizations).
• Sponsor comprehensive smoking cessation programs and ban smoking in the workplace both indoors and outside on your property surrounding your building(s).

Health Plans

• Educate members about their coverage for preventive screening tests and send reminders to members who have not used them.
• Help physicians track whether their patients have received recommended screening tests.

Ensure that benefits cover the following services, with low or no out-of-pocket costs:
• Periodic preventive care visit (as often as annually) for all adult members
• Screening services for diseases and risk factors such as cancer, depression and cholesterol
• Well child care
• Recommended immunizations
• Weight loss programs for obese and high risk overweight members
• Comprehensive smoking cessation

Finding Cancer Early: American Cancer Society
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