WEST VIRGINIA LEGISLATURE
2025 REGULAR SESSION
Introduced
Senate Bill 606
By Senator Grady
[Introduced February 26, 2025; referred
to the Committee on Health and Human Resources; and then to the Committee on the Judiciary]
A BILL to amend the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, by adding a new section, designated §16-5A-6, relating to the notification of breast density; and providing for medical guidelines and information.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
(a) If a mammography screening indicates that a patient does not have heterogeneously or extremely dense breasts based upon the Breast Imaging Reporting and Data System established by the American College of Radiology, the patients summary shall include the following language: "Breast tissue can be either dense or not dense. Dense tissue makes it harder to find breast cancer on a mammogram and also raises the risk of developing breast cancer. Your breast tissue is not dense. Talk to your healthcare provider about breast density, risks for breast cancer, and your individual situation." The summary shall also include the patient’s specific breast density category.
(b) If a mammography screening indicates that a patient has heterogeneously or extreme dense breasts based upon the Breast Imaging Reporting and Data System established by the American College of Radiology, the patients summary shall include the following language: "Breast tissue can be either dense or not dense. Dense tissue makes it harder to find breast cancer on a mammogram and also raises the risk of developing breast cancer. Your breast tissue is dense. In some people with dense tissue, other imaging tests in addition to mammography may help find cancers. Talk to your healthcare provider about breast density, risks for breast cancer and your individual situation." The summary shall also include the patient’s specific breast density category.
(c) The report sent to the individual’s healthcare provider must also include one of the following breast density category terms specific to the radiology findings:
(1) "The breasts are almost entirely fatty";
(2) "There are scattered areas of fibroglandular density";
(3) "The breasts are heterogeneously dense, which may obscure small masses"; or
(4) "The breasts are extremely dense, which lowers the sensitivity of mammography."
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to provide for medical guidelines and information related to breast density.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken from a heading or the present law and underscoring indicates new language that would be added.