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December 01, 2009 — Treatment Guidelines and Me

The flurry of debate regarding the new breast cancer screening guidelines released by the US Preventive Services Task Force is leaving many consumers – including me – confused.

Do I continue to get an annual mammogram? What's the evidence for and against? What are the benefits and risks? By the way, I don't have a degree in biostatistics or epidemiology, so please remind me what a "false positive" is and why it is that bad – for me? (Emphasis here on "for me" and not on "for society.")

We should keep this debate on breast cancer screening in mind as we think about health care reform. Most health care reform proposals include a provision for evaluating the comparative effectiveness of alternative medical treatment. This Comparative Effectiveness Research would be shared with consumers and physicians (and other practitioners) to make informed decisions.

Communicating the evidence from Comparative Effective Research will be difficult. However, patient education tools (also called decision aids) can help. At the end of the day, however, it will be up to the patient and his/her own physician to work together to make appropriate decisions.

In the meantime, my list of questions for my next doctor's appointment just got a little longer.

Last night, AARP Massachusetts and the Partnership were at Salem State College for the last in our series "The Crisis in Health Care: What's A Patient To Do?" Many thanks to Salem State for hosting and its President Patricia Maguire Meservey for moderating the panel.

L-R: Martha Page, North Shore Medical Center, Marilyn Schlein Kramer, Partnership for Healthcare Excellence, Martha Hayward, Women’s Health Exchange, Mitchell Rein, North Shore Medical Center, Patricia Maguire Meservey, Salem State College

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