UW Health's Response to Screening Mammography Recommendations
On Nov. 16, the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) released new recommendations for screening mammography clinical guidelines. The USPSTF now recommends screening mammography every two years for women ages 50 to 74 years and recommends against routine screening mammography for women ages 40 to 49 years.
The USPSTF announcement has drawn considerable media attention and sparked controversy among health care providers and other national experts. Amid the multiple viewpoints currently being discussed, UW Health offers the following response to the new recommendations:
- First, we continue to recognize the value of breast cancer screening with mammography
- Recent efforts at UW Health, based on our existing UW Health screening guidelines, have established a comprehensive program to improve breast cancer screening rates among our patients. We will continue to support these programs.
- UW Health has an established process for developing and evaluating clinical guidelines. This process ensures continuous review and updating as new evidence becomes available. Our UW Health guidelines for breast cancer screening will be reviewed and revised according to this established process.
UW Health care teams will continue to follow our existing comprehensive UW Health breast cancer screening guidelines and will keep our patients informed of any UW Health screening mammography guideline changes as they occur. Patients may be interested in a brief series of Questions and Answers regarding the new recommendations and UW Health's response.
Date Published: 11/25/2009
