WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force is an influential body of health advisers backed by the government to routinely weigh the benefits and risks of early screening for disease.
For much of its 27-year history, the panel has helped persuade Americans to get screened early, but more recently it has come under fire for advice to limit testing that may do more harm than good for healthy people.
Here are some facts about the panel:
MEMBERS
The task force is made up of 16 health experts: 13 doctors, two registered nurses and one academic. Put together, they have expertise in treating patients at all stages of life and from very diverse cultural and social backgrounds.
The panel members volunteer on average four to six hours a week in addition to their day jobs at hospitals and universities. They meet in person three times a year for two days. For those meetings, they receive travel reimbursement and about $150 a day in honorarium.
The task force members are appointed to four-year terms with an option for an extension for another one or two years. Virtually anybody can nominate new panel candidates through this website: http://www.ahrq.gov/clinic/tfnominfo.htm.
LETTER GRADE RECOMMENDATIONS ON SCREENINGS
There are five:
A: benefits substantially outweigh harms and the panel recommends the service.
B: benefits moderately outweigh harms and the panel recommends the service.
C: benefits are small and the decision about the service should be carefully weighed by patients with their doctors.
D: harms outweigh or negate benefits and the panel does not recommend the service.
I: evidence is insufficient for the panel to make a call.
Since controversy over its mammography recommendation, the task force has struggled to find better standard language to go with the "C" recommendation. A final statement on counseling for physical activity and healthy diet, expected soon, will likely give the first peek at the new wording.
HOW OFTEN DOES THE PANEL RECONSIDER ITS RECOMMENDATIONS?
The panel aims to refresh recommendations every five years, or whenever new evidence emerges to warrant a reevaluation.
HOW DOES THE PANEL'S REVIEW PROCESS WORK?
The task force and its supporting Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) -- part of the Department of Health and Human Services -- draft questions for researchers to answer about a particular screening and its effects, based on the most recent clinical evidence.
If the standing recommendation is unlikely to change, the research may be done internally by AHRQ officers. More often, however, the panel involves outside researchers from evidence-based practice centers around the country. They analyze all trials and studies on the subject, weed out lower-quality studies, crunch data and write a journal article.
Before being published in the Annals of Internal Medicine, the articles are peer-reviewed. In more controversial cases the panel specifically seeks out peer reviewers to represent varying opinions.
The researchers then present the data to the panel, which has to reach a supermajority for a vote on any recommendation. If some members have serious disagreements, the data can be sent back for more research.
(Reporting by Alina Selyukh)
