Bone Mineral Screening for Osteoporosis

Osteoporosis in postmenopausal women is an important public health problem, accounting for 1 to 2 million fractures per year in the United States. The morbidity, mortality, and financial ramifications associated with this disease are most evident in regard to hip fractures, which occur in approximately one third of women who live to the age of 90.1 , 2 Recent events have focused attention on both the diagnosis and the treatment of osteoporosis. The Health Care Financing Administration is currently under mounting pressure to change its previous decision not to permit reimbursement for bone mineral screening in patients receiving Medicare.3 Similar pressures have . . .