A randomized trial of telephone counseling to promote screening mammography in two HMOs

Abstract

Tailored telephone counseling (TTC) is effective in increasing utilization of screening mammography, but has received limited testing on a large scale in a contemporary HMO setting in which most eligible women get regular screening. We conducted a randomized controlled trial comparing TTC to an active control (mailed reminders) among women aged 50-80 enrolled in two HMOs in New England (n=12,905). Over a 1-year period counselors attempted to contact women in the intervention arm who had not had a mammogram within the last 15 months. The absolute increase in mammography use due to the intervention was 4.9% (OR 1.3, 95% CI 1.0-1.6) in one HMO and 3.1% (OR 1.2, 95% CI 1.0-1.3) in the other. We estimated that one additional woman was screened for each 10.9 women eligible for counseling. An intervention process analysis documented a high level of acceptance of TTC and identified subgroups that could be targeted for counseling to improve the efficiency of TTC.