About USPSTF

The New U.S. Preventive Services Task Force

The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF), first convened by the U.S. Public Health Service in 1984, and since 1998 sponsored by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), is the leading independent panel of private-sector experts in prevention and primary care. The USPSTF conducts rigorous, impartial assessments of the scientific evidence for the effectiveness of a broad range of clinical preventive services, including screening, counseling, and preventive medications. Its recommendations are considered the "gold standard" for clinical preventive services.

The mission of the USPSTF is to evaluate the benefits of individual services based on age, gender, and risk factors for disease; make recommendations about which preventive services should be incorporated routinely into primary medical care and for which populations; and identify a research agenda for clinical preventive care.

Background and Mission

Public Law Section 915 mandates that AHRQ convene the USPSTF to conduct scientific evidence reviews of a broad array of clinical preventive services, develop recommendations for the health care community, and provide ongoing administrative, research, technical, and dissemination support.

The Task Force's pioneering efforts began with the 1989 Guide to Clinical Preventive Services. A second edition of the Guide was published in 1996. The current Guide to Clinical Preventive Services is available on the Web.

Process

The Task Force makes its recommendations on the basis of explicit criteria. Recommendations issued by the USPSTF are intended for use in the primary care setting. The USPSTF recommendation statements present health care providers with information about the evidence behind each recommendation, allowing clinicians to make informed decisions about implementation.*

The USPSTF is supported by an Evidence-based Practice Center (EPC). Under contract to AHRQ, the EPC conducts systematic reviews of the evidence on specific topics in clinical prevention that serve as the scientific basis for USPSTF recommendations.

The USPSTF reviews the evidence, estimates the magnitude of benefits and harms for each preventive service, reaches consensus about the net benefit for each preventive service, and issues a recommendation.

The Task Force grades the strength of the evidence from "A" (strongly recommends), "B" (recommends), "C" (no recommendation for or against), "D" (recommends against), or "I" (insufficient evidence to recommend for or against).

*From: Harris RP, Helfand M, Woolf SH, et al. Current methods of the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force: a review of the process. Am J Prev Med 2001;20(suppl 3):21-35.

Members of the USPSTF

The USPSTF comprises primary care clinicians (e.g., internists, pediatricians, family physicians, gynecologists/obstetricians, and nurses). Individual members' interests include: decision modeling and evaluation; effectiveness in clinical preventive medicine; clinical epidemiology; the prevention of high-risk behaviors in adolescents; geriatrics; and the prevention of disability in the elderly.

Current members of the Task Force are listed below. They have recognized expertise in prevention, evidence-based medicine, and primary care.

Bruce N. Calonge, M.D., M.P.H. (Chair)
Chief Medical Officer and State Epidemiologist
Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment, Denver, CO

Diana B. Petitti, M.D., M.P.H. (Vice Chair)
Senior Scientific Advisor for Health Policy and Medicine
Kaiser Permanente Southern California, Pasadena, CA

Allen J. Dietrich, M.D.
Professor, Community and Family Medicine
Dartmouth Medical School

Thomas G. DeWitt, M.D.
Carl Weihl Professor of Pediatrics
Director of the Division of General and Community Pediatrics
Department of Pediatrics, Children's Hospital Medical Center, Cincinnati, OH

Leon Gordis M.D., M.P.H., Dr.P.H.
Professor of Epidemiology and Pediatrics
Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD

Kimberly D. Gregory, M.D., M.P.H.
Director, Maternal-Fetal Medicine and Women's Health Services Research
Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, Los Angeles, CA

Russell Harris, M.D., M.PH.
Professor of Medicine
Sheps Center for Health Services Research
University of North Carolina School of Medicine, Chapel Hill, NC

George Isham, M.D., M.S.
Medical Director and Chief Health Officer
HealthPartners, Minneapolis, MN

Michael L. LeFevre, M.D., M.S.P.H.
Professor, Department of Family and Community Medicine
University of Missouri School of Medicine, Columbia, MO

Rosanne Leipzig, M.D., Ph.D
Professor, Geriatrics and Adult Development, Medicine, Health Policy
Mount Sinai School of Medicine

Carol J. Loveland-Cherry, Ph.D., R.N.
Professor and Executive Associate Dean, School of Nursing
University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI

Lucy N. Marion, Ph.D., R.N.
Dean and Professor, School of Nursing
Medical College of Georgia, Augusta, GA

Virginia A. Moyer, M.D., M.P.H.
Professor, Associate Director, Clinical Associate Professor
Center for Clinical Research and Evidence Based Medicine
University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, Houston TX

Judith K. Ockene, Ph.D., M.Ed.
Professor of Medicine
University of Massachusetts Medical School, Worcester, MA

George F. Sawaya, M.D.
Associate Professor
Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology, and Reproductive Sciences
Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics
University of California, San Francisco

Barbara Yawn, M.D., M.Sc.
Director of Research
Olmsted Medical Center, Rochester, MN

Impact of the USPSTF

USPSTF recommendations have formed the basis of the clinical standards for many professional societies, health organizations, and medical quality review groups. Previous editions of the Guide to Clinical Preventive Services have been used widely in undergraduate and post-graduate medical and nursing education as a key reference for teaching preventive care.

The work of the USPSTF has helped establish the importance of including prevention in primary health care, ensuring insurance coverage for effective preventive services, and holding providers and health care systems accountable for delivering effective care.

USPSTF recommendations highlight the opportunities for improving delivery of effective services and have helped others in narrowing gaps in the provision of preventive care in different populations.

For More Information
Go to http://www.ahrq.gov/clinic/uspstfix.htm:

To access recommendations made by the USPSTF and the articles that summarize the evidence on which the recommendations are based.
To find out how to receive CD-ROM and print publications of USPSTF recommendations.
And, to sign up for AHRQ's Prevention Program LISTSERV®.
To download the Electronic Preventive Services Selector (ePSS), a searchable PDA and online tool of USPSTF recommendations, go to: http://pda.ahrq.gov/index.html.

The recommendations of the USPSTF are made for asymptomatic populations; the recommendations made by the Task Force are not disease - or individual - specific. If you have concerns about your health, contact your medical care provider.

Current as of January 2007

Internet Citation: About USPSTF. U.S. Preventive Services Task Force. January 2007. Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, Rockville, MD. http://www.ahrq.gov/clinic/uspstfab.htm

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