Oct 2, 2018 3 min read

At first glance, a report released today by a health care research group did not reflect positively on Washington and Greene counties.

The Pennsylvania Health Care Cost Containment Council found that in 2017, patients 18 and older who underwent breast cancer surgery in an acute care hospital or ambulatory surgery center in the state did so at a rate of 20.8 per 10,000 female residents.

Washington’s rate was 24.5 per 10,000 women living in the county, and Greene’s was 23.3 – both above the Keystone State figure in the Pennsylvania Health Care Cost Containment Council report.

Gary Weinstein wasn’t fretting, though. The president and chief executive officer of Washington Health System had gotten an early look at the PHC4 report, and not only was he undeterred by the apparent negative news, he believed the statistics to be validation that WHS is doing its due diligence.

“This is not bad news for Washington and Greene counties,” said Weinstein, whose organization operates Washington Hospital and WHS Greene. “This shows we’re detecting cancer and doing something about it.”

He did question the thoroughness of the report, which provided only breast cancer surgery rates, but “not rates of breast cancer itself.”

PHC4 compiled annual statistics on breast cancer surgeries in Pennsylvania for 2008 through 2017, and reported 11,717 surgeries last year – a figure that was consistent over the 10-year time frame. Of those 11,717 surgeries, 71.0 percent were lumpectomies – and 97.8 percent of those were at an outpatient setting.

There were 210 Washington County residents who had breast cancer surgery last year, and 33 from Greene. Of patients who had surgery at facilities statewide, 93.7 percent live in Pennsylvania and 99.2 percent were female, 0.8 percent male.

Among counties, Monroe (9.1) and Pike (9.2), both in eastern Pennsylvania, had the lowest incidences per 10,000 residents. Montour (37.4) and Lancaster (27.5) had the highest.

The organization also broke down the numbers by age, and found people in the 65 to 84 range had the highest rate of breast cancer surgery – 43.1 of 10,000, followed by 45 to 64 (27.9). Weinstein said that probably is another reason the Greene and Washington rates are slightly above that of the commonwealth.

“We skew older than some other counties,” he said. “There are more women here who fall into that age group and are more likely to have breast cancer and breast cancer surgery.”

Weinstein said WHS has instituted several initiatives to increase public awareness of breast cancer. He said that as a nonprofit, his system has to do a Community Health Needs Assessment every three years – 2019 will be next – and that WHS has collaborated with Monongahela Valley Hospital on this since 2013.

He added that WHS created a navigator position, an individual who helps patients with mammograms and ensuring they pursue care and follow-up if need be.

“We also have invested in digital mammography, state-of-the-art in breast cancer detection,” Weinstein said.