"The earlier cancer is detected and treated, the better the outcome,” Republican U.S. Representative Michael McAuliffe, a sponsor of the bill, HB4392, said in a statement. “Unfortunately, many women are left unaware that their mammogram results were inconclusive and that they have a right to additional testing.”

Experts recently told HCB News in a separate story that while the introduction of these laws are a good sign of growing awareness, a uniform, standardized approach for notifying and educating women about breast density is crucial for early detection and intervention.


“Having every state do a different thing creates more confusion,” said Dr. Monica Saini, a consultant diagnostic radiologist for Volpara Health Solutions. “We have to have a national, uniform conversation, which means it’s going to be probably at the level of the FDA to mandate a uniform approach to this. If we have an automated standardized way of assessing density across our population and the world, then we can track who are the women at greater risk.”

The law is set to take effect on January 1, 2019.

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