Insurer Rewards Push Women Toward Mammograms

Sources: The New York Times, January 18, 2016 A New York Times Op-Ed column authored by Harald Schmidt, PhD, discusses the practice of employers and health plans incentivizing women to get mammograms. Since the pros and cons of getting a mammogram can be complicated, depending on age and risk profiles, he suggests that employers and health plans should instead offer incentives that reward the use of online decision aids which are based on the best available scientific evidence. In short, he writes “Don’t pay women to get mammograms — pay them to use a tool to decide whether they should get mammograms.”