The Breast Health Collaborative of Texas is sponsoring The Fifth Annual Breast Health Summit of Texas (the Summit) on October 29-30, 2009 at the United Way in Houston, Texas. The goal of the Summit is to improve access to breast health care, particularly for low-income, uninsured and underinsured women by leveraging health resources through collaboration. The Summit will focus on the difficult breast health issues currently facing the State. Healthcare providers, breast cancer survivors and philanthropic members of the community attend, participate and address solutions for uninsured women in need of access to breast healthcare. Results from past conferences include launching a web-based interactive breast health portal, expanding the Komen service area and attracting new funding, and celebrating and increase in Breast and Cervical Cancer Services (BCCS) services in Texas. The objectives for the 2009 Summit series will be. 1. Measurably expand membership in the Breast Health Collaborative of Texas by 30% with representation from all Health Services Regions in Texas in the future. 2. Increase access to breast health services for medically underserved populations 3. Survey, access and discuss patient navigation models in use throughout the state. 4. Survey, access discuss attract measurably increasing levels of funding to the Breast health Collaborative of Texas BHCT) partner agencies by providing an overview of breast health care funding availability. While there is an increasing amount of collaboration being seen on the healthcare landscape in Houston, conferences specifically focusing on creating access to breast health care for the uninsured are virtually nonexistent. In partial answer to this lack of an annual venue for breast health professionals dealing with issues of access, disparities and expanding capacity.
