Banner Health Foundation

Banner MD Anderson Cancer Center’s Big Pink Bus

With a mission to make health care easier, so life can be better, nonprofit Banner Health is headquartered in Phoenix, AZ and operates 30 hospitals, 3 academic medical centers, Banner MD Anderson Cancer Center (BMDACC) and other premier health entities and services in 6 states. BMDACC has 1 of 4 accredited Breast Centers in AZ, and provides comprehensive, multi-disciplinary care—including diagnosis, treatment, integrative and complementary therapies, wellness workshops, and survivor support.

In 10 years of Cancer Care, Banner MD Anderson Cancer Center has: 

• 1,547,819 patients visits
• 250,000 patient visits each year
• 90,000 mammograms and breast biopsies annually

BMDACC is a recognized leader in personalized medicine and novel targeted therapies across Arizona and throughout the SW United States that cares for everyone, including those patients with socio-economic barriers with support of the Patient Assistance Fund and Patient Housing Endowment.  

The Big Pink Bus: Mobile 3D Mammography Service

Mammograms remain the only screening test proven to reduce breast cancer deaths through early detection. With breast cancer being the most common cancer worldwide in 2021, easy access to mammograms—known to reduce breast cancer deaths by 30% to 40%—is critical. Digital Breast Tomosynthesis Mammography, known as 3D mammography, has quickly become the gold standard, offering greater accuracy, reducing false positives and the anxiety they bring, finding more cancers than conventional mammography, and detecting invasive cancers sooner.

32% of women with health insurance and 69% of those without health insurance do not get annual mammograms. Barriers to getting screened include lack of transportation or childcare, or distance from a quality breast imaging center. A mobile 3D mammography unit will allow Banner MD Anderson Cancer Center to directly address these hurdles with The Big Pink Bus.

This mobile unit will bring 3D mammography to women throughout the Valley and improve access to screenings in underserved and out-of-reach communities. Mobile mammography offers patients close, convenient and affordable screening services from Banner Health and access to its integrated care delivery if further diagnostics or treatment is needed. The mobile unit will also make early breast cancer detection accessible at special events, health fairs, and businesses.

The Big Pink Bus

Banner MD Anderson Cancer Center will launch a mobile mammography unit called The Big Pink Bus, offering convenient access to high-quality screening and patient navigation to help women through the health care continuum: from outreach and education, risk reduction, screening and detection, diagnosis and treatment, through to survivorship or end-of-life care. Mobile mammography can reduce healthcare disparities by bringing care to communities that may lack nearby access, education and information, and/or transportation, and increase screening rates among all women by minimizing disruption to their professional and/or family obligations.

In the first year, the goal for The Big Pink Bus is to be scheduled 200 days in the community with 20 mammograms per day, reaching approximately 4,000 women. Women who choose mobile mammography can expect the same exceptional patient care that they would experience at one of Banner MD Anderson’s mammography imaging locations. Scheduling, testing, follow-up, and referrals will be a seamless experience, and patients will have expedited access to Banner MD Anderson Cancer Center’s specialized breast oncologists and surgeons. All mammograms are interpreted by radiologists who are specifically trained to read mammograms, and all Banner MD Anderson Cancer Center radiologists are faculty at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, the No. 1 cancer center in the world.