Missing Millions · 2026 estimate

New Mexico is missing 84,800 lung cancer screenings.

About 1 in 9 adults ages 50 to 80 in New Mexico qualifies for lung cancer screening and hasn't been screened. Find your county below.

95,300adults qualify for screening under USPSTF 2021 criteria (estimate)
11.0%were screened, 49th of 51 (American Lung Association, 2025); 18.2% nationally
1,283low-dose CT screening scans billed to Medicare fee-for-service by New Mexico providers in 2024

Sources: U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates 2025; CDC PLACES 2025; USPSTF 2021; American Lung Association, State of Lung Cancer 2025; CMS Medicare Physician and Other Practitioners 2024 (CPT 71271). Modeled estimates; see methodology below.

The gap, county by county

Shade shows how many adults ages 50 to 80 are missing screening. Select a county.

Bernalillo County

23,700

missing lung cancer screenings (estimate)

  • Qualify for screening26,600
  • Adults 50 to 80 missing screening1 in 9
  • Medicare low-dose CT scans, 2024892
Open the Bernalillo County page

Every New Mexico county, ranked

Ranked by estimated missing screenings. Select a column to sort.
1Bernalillo County23,70026,6001 in 9892
2Doña Ana County7,6008,5001 in 982
3San Juan County6,7007,6001 in 6130
4Santa Fe County6,0006,7001 in 11161
5Sandoval County5,6006,3001 in 100
6McKinley County4,9005,5001 in 40
7Valencia County3,3003,7001 in 80
8Otero County3,0003,3001 in 80
9Chaves County2,6002,9001 in 80
10Lea County2,4002,7001 in 80
11Eddy County2,1002,4001 in 90
12Rio Arriba County1,9002,1001 in 80
13Taos County1,6001,8001 in 100
14Curry County1,5001,7001 in 80
15Cibola County1,5001,7001 in 60
16Grant County1,3001,5001 in 90
17Luna County1,3001,4001 in 70
18San Miguel County1,1001,2001 in 100
19Lincoln County1,0001,2001 in 90
20Torrance County9601,1001 in 70
21Sierra County7708701 in 70
22Socorro County7608601 in 70
23Colfax County6106901 in 90
24Roosevelt County5906601 in 80
25Quay County4805401 in 718
26Los Alamos County4104601 in 160
27Catron County2903301 in 80
28Hidalgo County2002201 in 80
29Union County2002201 in 70
30Mora County1902101 in 110
31Guadalupe County1802101 in 80
32De Baca County901001 in 80
33Harding Countyfewer than 50fewer than 501 in 80

Methodology

How we estimate the gap

A modeled estimate from public data only. It is not a count of patients and contains no patient information.

missing = adults 50 to 80 × county smoking rate × national eligibility factor × (1 − state screening rate)

  • Adults 50 to 80: U.S. Census Bureau, Population Estimates, Vintage 2025
  • Smoking: CDC PLACES 2025 release (Kentucky and Pennsylvania: 2024 release)
  • Eligibility: USPSTF 2021 criteria, scaled to about 14.5 million eligible adults nationally
  • Screening rates: American Lung Association, State of Lung Cancer 2025
  • Who is missing: Census population estimates (age) and American Community Survey 2020 to 2024 (language)
  • Screening activity: CMS Medicare fee-for-service claims for low-dose CT (CPT 71271), 2024, by provider location

Estimates under 50 are shown as "fewer than 50"; others are rounded. Full methodology

Many of them are already your patients.

Oatmeal Health helps health systems and community health centers find, navigate, and screen the people who qualify, alongside the care teams you already have.

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