WASHINGTON, DC - The Subcommittee on Health, chaired by Rep. Joseph Pitts (R-PA), today held a hearing examining the United States Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF).
The USPSTF was created in 1984 as an independent, volunteer panel aimed at making clinical preventive services recommendations, which could work to improve the health of all Americans. The Affordable Care Act required the USPSTF to submit annual reports to Congress with recommendations to generate new knowledge, address health priorities, and improve preventive care. Unfortunately, these recommendations are not living up to their intended purpose.
Full committee Vice Chairman Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) and committee member Rep. Bobby Rush (D-IL) have introduced a discussion draft aimed at alleviating the problems at USPSTF, entitled “USPSTF Transparency and Accountability Act of 2016," which would:
* Require specialists and subspecialists to be involved in reviewing the preventive services examined by the Preventive Services Task Force,
* Allow a wide range of patient groups, providers and federal agencies to be involved in the important review process of preventive services, and;
Provide greater transparency by requiring any evidence and recommendations be made available for public comment.
“There continues to be growing concerns over a number of the USPSTF recommendations - and the attempt to control cost by limiting patient access to preventive care," said Rep. Blackburn. “It is important that we reform this flawed system and ensure informed patient-centered choices for individual health needs. Congress has an oversight responsibility and today’s hearing helped us better understand the implications of these recommendations, and their impact on coverage."
John H. Lynch, Chairman and Professor at the Department of Urology at Georgetown University issued his support for the discussion draft, stating, “We hope that Congress will enact the ‘USPSTF Transparency and Accountability Act’ so that key improvements in transparency and accountability for the Task Force’s process determining coverage and access will assist patients in receiving preventive care."
Chairman Pitts concluded, “Experience has shown that a number of the Task Force recommendations have the effect of limiting access to preventative care. Such recommendations contradict clinical guidelines based on medical literature and experts in the field. The concerns are that these recommendations could undermine new models of care delivery. Today’s hearing provided us a good overview of the work conducted by the Task Force and how it might be improved with passage of this legislation."
