Mammogram appointments delayed by up to 148 days: NYC report

By Dr. Ananya Mandal, MDMay 5 2011

According to a report released by the NYC Comptroller, hospital closures and budget cuts in New York City have contributed to “dangerously long” wait times of nearly two months for diagnostic mammograms in the city.

The report reveals that women undergoing diagnostic mammograms, which are more urgent than mammography screenings, were forced to wait 50 working days at Elmhurst Hospital in Queens, the hospital that performed the most mammograms in NYC in 2009 (11,425). Also for women attempting to schedule screening mammograms at Elmhurst, wait time was found to be 148 calendar days. Other hospitals slow to schedule diagnostic mammograms included Brooklyn’s Woodhull Hospital at 28 days and Kings County Hospital at 21 days said the report. These screening mammograms took 49 days at Queens Hospital and 41 days at Woodhull Hospital.

Though substantially shorter than Elmhurst’s 148-day wait time for screening, these waits dramatically exceeded the 14-day guideline for screenings put forth by the Health and Hospitals Corporation, New York City’s public hospital system.

The City Comptroller John C. Liu praised some of the Health and Hospitals Corporation’s response to hospital closures and budget cuts but said, “This audit nonetheless uncovers problems that require attention and resources so that women’s lives and health are not put at risk.” According to his recommendations, the public hospital system should establish a standard for diagnostic wait times, similar to the 14-day guideline existing for screening times, to which the Comptroller’s audit showed the hospitals could not adhere.

The Comptroller expressed further concern about a high numbers of missed appointments, pointing to National Institutes of Health (NIH) findings that longer wait times are associated with more missed mammography appointments.

Ana Marengo, a spokeswoman for the municipal hospital system, said that women can receive diagnostic mammograms within 24 to 72 hours. She said, “We absolutely refute their conclusion that there are any dangerous delays to patients.”