RFK Jr. Reportedly Planning to Fire All USPSTF Members
Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is planning to fire all the members of the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) and replace them with members of his own choosing, according to media reports. The Wall Street Journal reported Friday that Kennedy plans to remove the 16 task force members because […]
Supreme Court Issues Ruling on ACA’s Preventive Care Mandate
The Supreme Court on Friday preserved a key aspect of the Affordable Care Act’s (ACA) preventive coverage mandate, handing a defeat to employers who don’t want to be required to cover certain preventive care services. In the 6-3 decision, the Supreme Court ruled that the appointment of members to the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force […]
Opinion | ‘This Is a Good News Story’: What We Heard This Week
“This is a good news story.” — Carol Mangione, MD, immediate past chair of the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force, on new draft guidance from the influential panel recommending biennial mammography screening starting at age 40 for women at average risk for breast cancer. “They’re just charging these exorbitant rates to a very small population […]
Older Men Still Overscreened for Prostate Cancer, Survey Says
Older men are being overscreened for prostate cancer, despite U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) guidelines against prostate-specific antigen (PSA) testing in men ages 70 and up, a survey study showed. Among a cohort of over 30,000 men, recent PSA screening rates were 55.3% for men ages 70 to 74, 52.1% for those ages 75 […]
Study Refutes Heart Health Claims of Dietary Supplements
CHICAGO — For people without heart disease, preventive low-dose statin therapy lowered LDL cholesterol to a degree that dietary supplements and placebo couldn’t match, a randomized trial found. People taking rosuvastatin 5 mg per day for 4 weeks had an average 37.9% reduction in LDL cholesterol, the only group to do better than the placebo […]
Federal Court Judge Mulls Challenge to ACA Preventive Care Mandates
The fate of preventive care services covered under the Affordable Care Act (ACA) now lies in the hands of a conservative Texas federal court judge who once tried to strike down the entire ACA. Judge Reed O’Connor, who once declared the ACA to be unconstitutional — a ruling that was later invalidated by the Supreme […]
USPSTF: Screen Kids 8 and Up for Anxiety
In new draft guidelines, the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) for the first time recommends that healthcare providers screen children for anxiety, regardless of whether they are showing signs and symptoms. USPSTF is recommending anxiety screening for children ages 8 and older (B grade) and reaffirmed their recommendations to screen for major depression in […]
Are the Right Men Getting Screened for Prostate Cancer?
Prostate-specific antigen (PSA)-based screening for prostate cancer increased after the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force recommended individual decision-making for men ages 55 to 69 in 2017, reversing its 2012 guidance that advised against PSA screening in all men. Now, a retrospective cohort study found that from 2016 to 2019 the overall mean rate of PSA […]