One out of 10 people who underwent breast cancer screening in 2024 received a "pending judgment" result. At some facilities, more than 9 out of 10 were marked as pending.
The National Health Insurance Service on the 12th released an analysis of the results from 3,530 breast cancer screening institutions in 2024. The overall average pending rate was 10.9%. But the gap by institution was extreme, ranging from a low of 1.6% to a high of 92.9%. At one clinic, the pending rate reached 94.3%.
There was also a large difference by breast tissue density. The pending rate for dense breasts was 12.8%, higher than fatty breasts (8.0%). The "other" category, including implant insertion, reached 29.7%. Dense breasts have more glandular and fibrous tissue, making image interpretation relatively difficult.
A total of 4,565,000 people were screened for breast cancer in 2024. The fund paid 180.9 billion won in screening costs. The results were "no abnormality" for 3,191,000 people (69.9%), "benign disease" for 867,000 (19.0%), "suspected cancer" for 8,000 (0.2%), and "pending judgment" for 500,000 (10.9%).
Looking at the trend over the past six years, "suspected cancer" has hovered around 8,000 annually with little change. By contrast, the share of "no abnormality" fell from 72.1% in 2019 to 69.9% last year, while "benign disease" rose from 16.0% to 19.0%.
The fund conducted on-site and written inspections in Sep. last year of the top 100 institutions with high pending rates. The average pending rate at those surveyed 97 facilities was 66.8% in 2024. After the inspection (Sep.–Nov. 2025), it fell to 42.7%, down 24.1 percentage points. The number of pending cases decreased by 3,155, and breast ultrasound examination costs were estimated to be reduced by 352 million won.
At one clinic with a 94.3% pending rate, it plunged to 8.9%, a drop of 85.4 percentage points. The fund believes the change was influenced by re-confirming lesion risk (C1·C2) in dense breasts and strengthening interpretation management.
National Health Insurance Service President Jeong Gi-seok said, "We confirmed that managing institutions with high pending rates can lead to improved test accuracy and savings in health insurance finances," and added, "We will strengthen evidence-based quality management of screenings."