BOSTON, Mass. – October 5, 2010 – Health Dialog announced today that it has made its industry-leading breast cancer decision aid titled "Early Stage Breast Cancer: Choosing Your Surgery," available to the general public in honor of Breast Cancer Awareness Month. As a public service throughout October, Health Dialog is providing access to a series of tools, information and resources about potential treatment options for breast cancer.
Over 200,000 American women will be diagnosed with invasive breast cancer this year , a diagnosis that leaves them searching for answers to the impending decisions that will impact their lives forever. "Early Stage Breast Cancer: Choosing Your Surgery," will empower women with the information they need to answer these questions and make informed decisions about their treatment plans.
From explaining how to read a pathology report to illustrating what a patient can expect from different types of surgeries, Health Dialog's breast cancer decision aid provides patient-friendly explanations of medical terms, comparisons of the treatment choices, photos, videos, diagrams and a printable booklet. Using this information, patients can become more active, informed and confident when deciding what treatment options are best for them. This program is just one of Health Dialog's many Shared Decision Making® initiatives that have been nationally recognized.
"Facing a breast cancer diagnosis is an intimidating situation that thousands of women unfortunately experience every month," said Jan Maurer, MD, Vice President and Medical Director at Health Dialog. "Research shows that women participating in their treatment decisions are more confident in facing the experiences that come with the diagnosis. This decision aid is designed to strengthen the conversations between patients and physicians and help empower women to make informed decisions about their breast cancer treatment."
To view the decision aid, please visit
www.healthdialog.com/go/BCAM.
About Health Dialog:
Health Dialog Services Corporation is a leading provider of healthcare analytics and decision support. The firm is a private, wholly-owned subsidiary of Bupa, a global provider of healthcare services. Health Dialog helps healthcare payors improve healthcare quality while reducing overall costs. Company offerings include health coaching for medical decisions, chronic conditions, and wellness; population analytic solutions; and consulting services. Health Dialog helps individuals participate in their own healthcare decisions, develop more effective relationships with their physicians, and live healthier, happier lives. For more information visit
www.healthdialog.com.
Media Inquiries:
Kiran Ganda
Health Dialog
kganda@healthdialog.com
617.406.5239
Footnotes:
(1) Lee C, Barry M, Cosenza C, Dominik R, Mulley A, O'Connor A and Sepucha K. Development of instruments to measure the quality of breast cancer treatment decisions. Health Expectations. 2010 Jun 9. http://www.cancer.org/acs/groups/content/@epidemiologysurveilance/documents/document/acspc-026238.pdf