On Wednesday, 60 organizations representing providers and patients with cancer submitted a letter to Robert F. Kennedy Jr., secretary of Health and Human Services, urging him to protect the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF).
USPSTF is an independent panel of experts in disease prevention. It provides recommendations for clinical preventive services like screenings, counseling services and medications.
However, the task force hasn’t convened in over a year. And last week, Kennedy fired the vice chairs of USPSTF: John Wong, a professor of medicine at Tufts University, and Esa Davis, professor of medicine at the University of Maryland.
The signatories of the letter include the Alliance for Women’s Health and Prevention, the American Association for Cancer Research, the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network, CancerCare, the National Black Nurses Association and more.
The organizations explain in the letter that USPSTF plays a critical role in reducing the burden of cancer, which is the second leading cause of death in the U.S. It’s also been found that nearly half of cancer deaths could be prevented with prevention and early detection interventions.
In addition to updating existing recommendations, USPSTF also develops new ones, the letter explains. There are several recommendations currently in the draft stage, including cervical cancer screening, prostate cancer screening and tobacco cessation.
“Additional recommendations, including colorectal cancer and lung cancer screening, will shortly be overdue. Prioritizing USPSTF’s review and potential recommendations of the latest science will support consumers’ access to proven preventive and life-saving services,” the letter stated.
In addition, USPSTF has an impact on no-cost coverage, the organizations explained. Under the Affordable Care Act, most insurers are required to cover USPSTF-recommended services with an “A” or “B” rating without cost sharing. This affects more than 150 million privately insured individuals, including 37 million children, 20 million adult Medicaid expansion enrollees and 61 million Medicare beneficiaries.
The letter also emphasizes the importance of USPSTF continuing the “trust that primary care providers and other medical professionals have in using USPSTF as a resource for guiding clinical practice and the trust that patients put in medical professionals when they are counseled to utilize preventive services.”
The organizations ended by saying that access to no-cost evidence-based preventive services can be life-saving.
“USPSTF’s work supports the foundation of evidence-based care, insurance coverage standards, and clinicians’ ability to deliver timely, appropriate, and life-saving preventive services,” the letter said. “With a shared commitment to improving health and reducing the burden of cancer and other chronic diseases, we ask you to protect the scientific integrity and rigor along with patient access that USPSTF’s evidence-based recommendations provide clinicians and patients.”
Photo: Bet_Noire, Getty Images
