Advancing cervical cancer screening: From care gaps to coordinated prevention

Five strategies for guideline-aligned screening, access expansion, and quality support

Cervical cancer remains a significant health issue in the United States, with nearly 13,000 new diagnoses and over 4,000 deaths annually. Despite being highly preventable through early detection and vaccination, half of new cases occur in women who’ve never been screened or haven’t been screened in over five years. For health plans, these missed screenings can translate into quality and financial risk. Low adherence to cervical cancer screening (CCS) and HPV vaccination (IMA-HPV) measures can negatively affect HEDIS performance, Star Ratings, and value-based reimbursement. 

By leveraging innovative technologies and strategic partnerships, payers can boost screening access and adherence, close critical care gaps, and support providers in driving meaningful improvements in patient outcomes and health equity. These strategies include:

• Education on the benefits of HPV vaccination and early detection through guideline-driven screening
• Self-collection options to increase access
• At home screening
• Artificial intelligence (AI) for improved diagnostic accuracy
• Digital tools for personalized risk assessment and outreach

For payers, these tools have direct implications for quality and cost performance. Increasing screening compliance by just 10 percentage points among eligible women have been associated with hundreds of early detections annually, preventing deaths, and reducing downstream oncology treatment costs. Moreover, cervical cancer screening and HPV vaccination are key HEDIS and Stars measures (CCS, IMA-HPV) that directly influence reimbursement and plan ratings.

By using these tools as part of a comprehensive population health strategy, payers can make significant strides in reducing cervical cancer, optimizing resources, decreasing costs associated with late-stage cancer treatment, addressing disparities in cervical cancer occurrence, and enhancing population health. 

The current landscape of cervical cancer prevent

Despite decades of progress with declining cervical cancer and mortality rates due to early detection through Pap smears and HPV testing, the disease remains a substantial public health challenge. Many women, especially those in underserved populations, face barriers to accessing these essential services. Gaps in screening contribute to this, alongside prevention efforts that fail to address geographical barriers to testing.

Closing these gaps represents a significant opportunity to improve outcomes and reduce the substantial economic burden associated with late-stage cervical cancer diagnosis and treatment, which can reach billions of dollars annually in the U.S. alone. What’s more, care gaps in HPV vaccine uptake are similar to those seen in cervical cancer screening, making the process a repeatable quality improvement and outreach opportunity for payers. 

The CDC estimates the lifetime treatment cost for a single cervical cancer case can exceed $93,000, and national expenditures for overall cervical cancer care can reach $2.3 billion annually. 

A comprehensive approach is required to close care gaps

To address these challenges and improve cervical cancer prevention, healthcare organizations can adopt a multifaceted approach combining innovative screening technologies, targeted outreach, and strategic partnerships. Labcorp's guideline-driven screening solutions emphasize cost-effective prevention, access expansion, and adherence to current clinical standards.

Key components of this strategy include:

1. Personalized risk assessments and digital outreach programs

Many women still miss recommended cervical cancer screenings because they lack clear guidance, have questions about their risk, or struggle to coordinate appointments and vaccination. Personalized digital risk assessments, such as the one offered by Ovia Health by Labcorp, collect information including Pap history, HPV status, symptoms, and vaccine information to generate personalized educational guidance and screening support pathways. These tools are reinforced by access to nurses for live or asynchronous coaching and support with finding a PCP for HPV screening, vaccination, and treatment when needed. Effective digital outreach programs often combine guided care pathways, automated reminders, educational content, and clinical support to enhance patient engagement and support prevention efforts. 

2. Provider support and education

Primary care providers play a critical role in identifying unscreened or under-screened women and educating patients about the importance of screening and HPV vaccination. Labcorp supports providers through ongoing communication of updated guidelines, screening reminders, and information about available testing options, including self-collection HPV kits.

These communications are delivered through Labcorp Link®, email, and direct outreach. Labcorp also integrates with many EHRs via Labcorp Diagnostic Assistant®, enabling providers to receive results and alerts within existing workflows and flag overdue or abnormal results for follow-up.

Additionally, Labcorp’s Insight Analytics® dashboard offers reports that:

• Highlight testing patterns that may fall outside guideline-recommended age ranges
• Provide visibility into patient testing volumes and utilization trends
• Support targeted provider education to encourage alignment with guideline-recommended screening practices

3. Empowering patients with self-collection

Self-collected samples have been shown to match the accuracy of clinician-collected samples for HPV testing. Published studies, including research in JAMA Internal Medicine, have shown that mailed HPV self-collection kits when combined with reminders have been associated with increased screening participation among underserved populations. Economic analyses also suggest that mailed self-collection may be cost-effective compared with usual care, with relatively low incremental costs per additional patient screened.

Labcorp’s FDA-approved self-collection testing allows patients to collect vaginal samples for high-risk HPV testing, with genotyping, either in office or at one of more than 2,200 patient service centers nationwide. Results are delivered to providers to support guideline-driven diagnosis and follow-up and may support performance on relevant quality measures, including HEDIS metrics.

4. Expanding access with at-home cervical cancer screening

In addition to in-office and patient service center–based screening options, Labcorp supports innovative partnerships that remove barriers to screening and meet patients where they are. Through a strategic collaboration with Teal Health, Labcorp helps advance FDA-authorized, at-home cervical cancer screening designed to reach women who face logistical, emotional, or access challenges with in-clinic Pap smears.

This patient-centered approach combines intuitive self-collection devices with telehealth and lab processing, enabling women to collect their own sample at home and return it for HPV testing without requiring an in-person visit. These expanded access pathways can be especially impactful for populations historically under-screened due to discomfort, transportation barriers, or scheduling constraints.

For payers, supporting at-home screening models can complement existing preventive care programs, boost screening uptake, and reduce care gaps, all of which can improve quality performance on measures like CCS and IMA-HPV while advancing health equity, improving health, and improving lives.

5. Leveraging AI to improve the Pap smear process

Pap smears remain the gold standard for early cervical cancer detection, and advances in cytology, HPV DNA, and RNA testing have significantly improved screening accuracy over time. With more than 50 years of experience and over 6 million Pap tests processed annually, Labcorp continues to invest in innovations that enhance diagnostic precision and efficiency.

Recent advancements in artificial intelligence are further transforming cervical cancer screening. Labcorp uses the FDA-cleared Hologic Genius™ Digital Diagnostics System, which applies AI to analyze digital images of Pap smear samples, rapidly identifying abnormal cells for further expert review. Combined with image-guided liquid-based Pap testing and adherence to ACOG and USPSTF guidelines, this approach helps standardize results and reduce variability.

AI-assisted cytology offers downstream advantages for payers in quality reporting and utilization management. Fewer false negatives and faster turnaround times mean fewer repeat tests, lower pathology spend, and improved accuracy in claims-based performance metrics such as cancer detection-to-treatment intervals.