Last Updated:
03/15/12 11:51:29 AM
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Women's Health Connection (WHC) |
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Breast and
Cervical Cancer Early Detection Program |
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The Women’s Health
Connection Program is funded by the National Breast and
Cervical Cancer Early Detection Program of the Centers
for Disease Control and Prevention for the purpose of
paying for breast and cervical cancer screening services
for age-eligible women who do not have health insurance
and who meet the Program’s income guidelines.
This program has
outsourced to Access to Healthcare Network, July 2011.
Their information is listed on the
Contact Us page.
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Who Qualifies? |
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Women 40 years of age or older
who do not have health insurance, Medicaid, Medicare
Part B, HMO coverage; or whose health insurance coverage
does not pay for preventive services; and who meet the
Program’s
income guidelines are eligible. |
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Covered Services |
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For women
40 to 49 years of age, the Program pays for the
clinic office visit at a contracted clinic for the
purpose of having the following procedures performed:
Annual pelvic exam
Annual Clinical Breast
Exam (the hands-on breast exam performed by a
clinician)
Pap test in accordance
with established screening schedules and
guidelines
Women
50 years of age or older receive the services listed
above and a screening mammogram. There are
no out-of–pocket expenses for these services for
eligible women. You may be asked to pay for services
that are not covered by the Program, and you have the
option of declining those services if you are unable to
pay for them.
You will need to
call Access to Healthcare Network’s call center; phone
is listed on the Contact Us page. You will need to let
them know that you would like to be enrolled with the
WHC program. They will enroll you over the phone, and
once enrolled the call center will give your information
to a care coordinator and they will send you all the
info and providers through the mail.
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How to
Get Enrolled |
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If you meet
the criteria, you will find a list of providers in the
"General Information" section of this web page, see right. Call the clinic that is
closest to you, explain that you would like to make an
appointment through the Women’s Health Connection
Program and the clinic will take care of the rest.
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What to
Expect
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When you receive your enrollment form, sign the
appropriate Informed Consent page. This form remains
with the clinic, which is responsible for filling out
the Exam Form page and forwarding the completed
enrollment form to the Program for processing. If
eligible, at the time of your visit the clinic will
provide you with a referral form for a mammogram. You
must take the mammogram referral form with you to your
appointment and give it to the imaging facility, so that
they know to bill the Program. The Program will not pay
for mammograms performed without a properly issued
referral form. When the completed forms are received by
the Program, the clinic will be paid for the office
visit, the lab will be paid for the Pap test if you were
eligible for a Pap test and the imaging facility will be
paid for the mammogram if you were eligible for one.
Once it gets close to your year from your first visit,
you would need to contact AHN to re-enroll with the
program. What this does is allows the Program to update
any changes to your phone number or address. If you had
a mammogram and are eligible for another mammogram, you
should have the mammogram at the same imaging facility
that did your prior one. Do not make an appointment at
the imaging facility until you have received the
mammogram referral form from the clinic. If you do
schedule a mammogram appointment without having the
referral from the clinic, WHC will not reimburse for
that service and you might get billed for that service.
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What if
your exam was not normal?
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If your exam was not normal, the
Program will pay for certain diagnostic tests necessary
to determine if the abnormal finding is cancerous or
not. At that time, your care coordinator will work with
you to guide you through the diagnostic process. |
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More
Information |
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If you would like more
information, click on the Contact Us link in the "General
Information" section of this page. |
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National Cancer Observances Calendar |
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For a list of National Cancer
Observances, see
Cancer Observance Calendar. |
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