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Item: Group recommends fewer Pap screenings: Report unconnected to recent mammogram advice/Shari Roan, L.A. Times
More Info: Only days after a federal panel scaled back on breast cancer screening recommendations for many women, another organization – the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists – has done the same for a screening credited with drastically reducing the rates of cervical cancer in the U.S. Women of all ages should undergo Pap smears less frequently than they do now, those new guidelines say. And young women are advised not to bother until age 21. The pullback follows the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force’s dismissal of routine breast cancer screenings for women under 50.
Question: What’s going on here?
D.F. Oliveria is a columnist and blogger for The Spokesman-Review. Huckleberries Online was judged the best 2008 Idaho newspaper blog by the Idaho Press Club. And the best 2007 news blog in the Pacific Northwest by the Society for Professional Journalist. Print Huckleberries is a past winner of the Herb Caen Memorial Column contest by the National Association of Newspaper Columnists. The Readership Institute of Northwestern University cited this blog as a good example of online community journalism.
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Norther on November 20 at 8:24 a.m.
Curious to see what the findings on colonoscopies will be. I think that comes out next month.
Phaedrus on November 20 at 8:55 a.m.
Interesting that many Americans from all walks of life have been complaining for years that the medical community requires too many tests and procedures, whether because doctors were taking advantage of Medicare/Medicaid and other government paid programs, or because they were steering patients to testing facilities in which they held a financial interest, or because they were protecting themselves from over-eager trial lawyers. Now, non-partisan medical boards make recommendations to reduce some of these tests and procedures and many of these same Americans are now squawking that the government is rationing care. Isn’t this what they wanted, less tests and more fiscal discipline? It’s a shame that everything becomes a political football.
scootermom on November 20 at 9:09 a.m.
What’s going on? The group that recommended decreased breast cancer screenings was comprised of no oncologists, but three insurance company representatives.
Hmmm. Is it about health? Or is it about giving insurance companies reasons to not pay for routine cancer screenings?
I suspect the latter.