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Even in Basic Health Decisions, You Can’t Screen Out Politics

Like it or not, someone other than your doctor is in the business of recommending your medical treatments.

That job falls to a little-known group called the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force. It has been the subject of increasing controversy, not because it guides decisions, but because some of its recommendations have shifted from encouraging expensive and expansive screening to discouraging its overuse. As with many things in medicine, it’s much more popular to do stuff than to tell people “no.”

Created in 1984 by Congress, the task force makes recommendations about clinical services, like screening for common diseases, that are essential elements of preventive care.…

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  Screening Recommendations

A listing of all the Recommendations with a grade of either A or B. A and B grade recommendations are services that the Task Force most highly recommends implementing for preventive care and that are also relevant for implementing the Affordable Care Act. These preventive services have a high or moderate net benefit for patients.

Articles of Interest

Evidence Considerations for Recent USPSTF Recommendations

However, some recent recommendations have raised concerns about the consistency of the USPSTF's processes and how they are applied. Potential problems include an overreliance on modeling projections, recommendations that have changed in the apparent absence of new evidence, and recommendations that appear to be inconsistent with the best available evidence from clinical trials.

Prevention TaskForce App Review

Overall, their strict adherence to the best available medical evidence is admirable. This new version keeps the same functionality of the old app, but looks and works even better.

Diabetes Screening Should Start at 35, U.S. Panel Recommends

The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force advises lowering the age for screening by five years.

Disputes Made Prevention Panel Stronger, Says Former Leader

For its first 25 years, the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force toiled in relative obscurity.

Do 45-Year-Olds Really Need Colon Cancer Screening?

A new recommendation says yes. The evidence is more complicated.

Embedding Prevention at the Heart of the US Health Conversation

The COVID-19 pandemic, which transformed the world in 2020, has been fundamentally a problem of prevention. From the first diagnoses of the virus in Wuhan, China, through massive lockdown and mitigation efforts all over the world, through global efforts to accelerate vaccine development, the pandemic has reminded us and elevated the visibility of the need for prevention.

For the first time, U.S. panel recommends screening adults for illicit drug use

As new ways to identify and treat people who use opioids and other drugs emerge, an independent panel of experts is recommending that health care providers screen their adult patients for illicit drug use. The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force has determined, for the first time, that there is enough evidence to state with “moderate certainty” that screening adults for illicit substance use is overall beneficial.

Hold insurers accountable for covering HIV prevention drugs at no cost to patients

Even before the Affordable Care Act reduced uninsured rates in our country, it required private insurers to cover essential preventive care at no cost to patients. But just as other pieces of the law require enforcement, so does this one.

Is the US Preventive Services Task Force ‘hurting men’ with its new osteoporosis recommendations? Here’s what you need to know

Contrary to the headline implication, the task force did perform a careful evaluation of the evidence on osteoporosis screening in men and issued the following recommendation: The USPSTF concludes that the current evidence is insufficient to assess the balance of benefits and harms of screening for osteoporosis to prevent osteoporotic fractures in men. (I statement).

Older patients are getting screened way too often for cancer

There's a cancer-related epidemic in the United States and it doesn't have to do with cell growth: doctors are unnecessarily screening the elderly for the disease.

Taking aspirin to prevent heart attack may cause more harm than good, task force says

Older adults without heart disease shouldn't take daily low-dose aspirin to prevent a first heart attack or stroke, an influential health guidelines group said in preliminary updated advice released Tuesday. Bleeding risks for adults in their 60s and up who haven't had a heart attack or stroke outweigh any potential benefits from aspirin, the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force said in its draft guidance.

US Preventative Services Task Force Study Finds Evidence of Benefits to Vitamin D Screening in Asymptomatic Adults is ‘Inconclusive’

The study also revealed that more research is needed to determine what serum levels are optimal when diagnosing a Vitamin D deficiency, and whether those levels vary by subgroups, such as race, ethnicity, or gender.

US Preventive Services Task Force: Insufficient Evidence to Recommend ECG Screening for A-fib Detection

After a detailed review of available evidence, the task force says the balance of benefits vs harms in asymptomatic patients is unclear.

USPSTF Re-Affirms Decision Against Carotid Artery Stenosis Screening

Using imaging to screen asymptomatic individuals can cause more potential harm than good, Task Force reiterates.

USPSTF Updated Guidance on Lung Cancer Screening With LDCT

Based on the reviewed evidence, the Task Force stated with “moderate certainty” that there appears to be a moderate net benefit associated with annual lung cancer screening using LDCT in persons considered at high risk for lung cancer. High-risk features that can determine or identify these patients include advanced age, total cumulative exposure to tobacco smoke, and years since smoking cessation.

Resources

6 Things to Know About the Preventive Services Task Force

From its creation in 1984, the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) has been a significant influence in healthcare, helping to recommend and determine the most beneficial and effective clinical preventive services.

U.S. Preventive Services Task Force

The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force is an independent, volunteer panel of national experts in disease prevention and evidence-based medicine. The Task Force works to improve the health of people nationwide by making evidence-based recommendations about clinical preventive services.