Missing Millions · 2026 estimate

Rhode Island is missing 30,800 lung cancer screenings.

About 1 in 13 adults ages 50 to 80 in Rhode Island qualifies for lung cancer screening and hasn't been screened. Find your county below.

44,700adults qualify for screening under USPSTF 2021 criteria (estimate)
31.0%were screened, 1st of 51 (American Lung Association, 2025); 18.2% nationally
2,369low-dose CT screening scans billed to Medicare fee-for-service by Rhode Island 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.

Providence County

17,900

missing lung cancer screenings (estimate)

  • Qualify for screening26,000
  • Adults 50 to 80 missing screening1 in 12
  • Medicare low-dose CT scans, 20241,098
Open the Providence County page

Every Rhode Island county, ranked

Ranked by estimated missing screenings. Select a column to sort.

1Providence County17,90026,0001 in 121,098
2Kent County5,8008,4001 in 12972
3Washington County3,6005,2001 in 15149
4Newport County2,2003,1001 in 16150
5Bristol County1,4002,0001 in 150

Lung cancer in Rhode Island

Each year, on average. Screening finds lung cancer early, when it is most treatable.

Diagnosed

903 a year

New lung and bronchus cancers, 2019 to 2023 average.

Found late

56% at a late stage

About 508 a year are found after the cancer has spread, when it is hardest to treat.

Deaths

474 a year

Lung cancer deaths, 2020 to 2024 average.

Source: National Cancer Institute and CDC, State Cancer Profiles. Counts under 16 a year are suppressed by NCI and not shown.

Health systems in Rhode Island

9 health systems serve Rhode Island counties. Each has a page with its service area, lung cancer data and screening today.

Browse health systems in the Lung Screening Atlas

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
  • Lung cancer cases and deaths: National Cancer Institute and CDC, State Cancer Profiles (incidence 2019 to 2023, deaths 2020 to 2024)
  • Smoking history: University of Minnesota National Lung Cancer Screening Estimates (Haynes 2026)

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.