Gov. Jerry Brown of California has signed legislation to extend the state's breast density reporting law through January 1, 2025.
Previously set to expire on January 1, 2019, the state's law, SB 1538, requires clinicians to notify women who have dense breast tissue of their status following a mammogram. It also requires that clinicians offer these women options for discussing the information with a physician. The new bill, SB 1034, will continue to enforce these practices.
Currently, 35 states in the U.S. have implemented similar legislation, with variations regarding the depth and breadth of notification. There is increasing interest in setting up a single national reporting standard to address these differences, according to educational resource provider DenseBreast-info.org.
To that end, proponents have introduced the Breast Density and Mammography Reporting Act of 2017 in both the Senate and House of Representatives, and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) plans to suggest amendments to the Mammography Quality Standards Act regulations, DenseBreast-info.org said.
