Disparities in Access to Lung Cancer Screening

Filmed at the 2018 STS Annual Meeting in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, Douglas Wood of the University of Washington in Seattle moderates a discussion on the disparities in access to lung cancer screening. Dr Wood is joined by Elizabeth David of the University of Southern California in Los Angeles, Betty Tong of Duke University in Durham, North Carolina, and David Cooke of the University of California Davis Medical Center in Sacramento. The panel discusses how health insurance coverage, primary care physicians, and shared decision making conversations are important components of expanding screening to eligible patients, and they highlight how geographic disparities in access, racial and ethnic disparities in access, and the stigma of lung cancer as a “lifestyle disease” can contribute to low screening rates for eligible patients. Finally, they emphasize the important role that surgeons play in screening programs.