In an editorial, USA Today
(5/23) criticizes the new guidelines from the US Preventive Services
Task Force (USPSTF) on PSA screening. USA Today asks, "Aren't patients
better advised to get the facts first and then the counseling if needed,
rather than being discouraged from finding out whether they have cancer
in the first place?" USPSTF's "approach seems based on the theory that
what you don't know can't hurt you. Well, it
can."
USPSTF's Moyer: Few benefits, substantial harms possible from PSA test.
In an opposing viewpoint in USA Today
(5/23), Dr. Virginia A. Moyer, USPSTF chair, writes, "Amid the many
messages you are hearing and reading about screening for prostate
cancer, I hope this one stands out most prominently: At best, there is a
very small potential benefit from the PSA test and there are
substantial known harms." Thus, "Until we improve the test and
treatment options, the US Preventive Services Task Force
recommends against screening for prostate cancer." According to Moyer,
the task force's "decision is based on science and the knowledge that
while we all want to prevent prostate cancer deaths, current PSA
screening and treatments for prostate cancer are not the answer."
New PSA recommendations may not affect Medicare coverage.
CQ
(5/23, Norman, Subscription Publication) reports, "The US Preventive
Services Task Force may have issued a controversial final recommendation
against routine prostate cancer screening for men, but the move appears
unlikely to affect Medicare coverage -- at least in the short term."
CQ adds, "In letters to members of Congress in February, Health and
Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said that 'while the
department has
discretion to modify or eliminate coverage for the PSA test based on the
Task Force's recommendation, I do not intend to eliminate coverage of
this screening test under Medicare at this time.'" Yesterday, "a
Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services spokeswoman said Tuesday that
the secretary's statement stands."
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