Cervical Cancer: Early Detection Is Key

January is Cervical Health Awareness Month. Cervical cancer occurs when abnormal cells on the cervix grow out of control. Each year in the United States, about 11,500 new cases of cervical cancer are diagnosed, and about 4,000 people die of this cancer. It can often be successfully treated when it’s found early.

Cervical cancer screening is an important part of routine health care—unfortunately, not enough people get screened.

Cervical Cancer Screening Trends

NCQA has been collecting and reporting data on cervical cancer screening since 1999. Our HEDIS? measure for Cervical Cancer Screening evaluates three types of screening.

• Cervical cytology within the last 3 years for people 21–64 years of age.
• Cervical high-risk human papillomavirus testing within the last 5 years for people 30–64 years of age.
• Cervical cytology/high-risk human papillomavirus cotesting within the last 5 years for people 30–64 years of age.

In 2023 the cervical cancer screening rate was 74% for commercial HMO plans and 73% for commercial PPO plans. But the screening rate was 55% for Medicaid plans, highlighting the need for more screening education and support.

Although screening is usually beneficial, it can result in false positive results for adolescents, who tend to have high rates of HPV infection and other cervical abnormalities. NCQA’s HEDIS measure for Non-Recommended Cervical Cancer Screening in Adolescents assesses people 16–20 years of age who were screened unnecessarily for cervical cancer. The good news is that unnecessary screenings reached an all-time low in 2023: 0.42% for commercial plans and 0.40% for Medicaid plans.

Updates to the Cervical Cancer Screening Measure

We’ve updated our cervical cancer screening measure to help ensure that everyone has access to high-quality, equitable care.

• The measure evaluates screening for anyone with a cervix. This report explains why we made this change. Results for the revised measure will be available this summer.
• We added stratification by race and ethnicity to identify disparities in cervical cancer screening. National and regional stratified performance results are planned for release later this year.

What You Can Do

If more people are aware of cervical cancer screening guidelines, more lives can be saved.

• If you fall in the population that needs cervical cancer screening, make an appointment to get screened this month.
• If you work at a health plan or care delivery organization, educate patients about cervical cancer screening guidelines and early detection.

Learn more by visiting the National Cancer Institute’s website.

HEDIS? is a registered trademark of the National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA).

Sources:

https://www.cdc.gov/cervical-cancer/statistics/index.html

https://www.cancer.org/cancer/types/cervical-cancer/about/key-statistics.html