Your History Matters
When it comes to breast health, your personal health history plays a significant role in your current and future care. All women will undergo breast screenings throughout her lifetime. Regardless of your journey, your prior breast health history, including prior mammograms, are critical for quality and timely care.
Take an active role in your breast health. The most important step you can take is owning your historical medical records, like your prior mammorgrams. Doctors need this information, but typically rely on patients to share records from past doctors. By arming yourself and your doctor with prior records, you help them identify changes over time and determine the difference between normal tissue and new changes they may want to further examine.
Historical breast health records support every woman:
Undergoing Routine Screening
Whether you are just beginning the routine screening process or have been getting mammogram check-ups for years, organize your prior exams in one place to take control of your care experience.
Family History or Genetic Predisposition to Breast Cancer
Doctors need your breast health history to closely monitor and identify changes before they can be felt in a physical breast exam. Doctors may recommend those with family history or genetic predisposition start regular mammogram screenings at a younger age or undergo more frequent screenings. This means more records to keep track of.
Undergoing Breast Cancer Treatment
Your care team is expanding and it is important to be able to share your current and prior breast health records with doctors across different departments and organizations without having to drive from facility to facility or wait for records to be shared.
In Remission
Follow-up care is essential in remission. Your care team will continue to monitor for warning signs. While you will have an individual care plan, you will still need to keep track of breast health screening and treatment records to support your care.
Citizen Scientist
By owning your breast health records you are able to share information to support research studies and trials that could advance understanding of disease and medicine, and discover new treatment options.
Click here to learn more about how to take ownership of your personal health information.