Task Force new Recommendation for Mammography

It seems that everywhere I look, everyone is questioning the new recommendations by this 'panel of experts' to delay mammograms until the age of 50. Now, of course, that doesn't mean a woman can't have it done before that time. But what does this imply? What does it mean as far as money out of her own pocket? It seems that, to me, the insurance corporations could construe this to work to their advantage by saying that they won't reimburse for such a screening until the 'recommended' age, set forth by Uncle Sam. It would be devastating to many women, even your own sister, wife, mother or daughter, or you.

So, who are these 'experts'? I've only been able to find the names and a brief history of their credentials. Credentials are only a part of what makes up your person. Is there an external influence on these people? Would the insurance industry, even the medical industry be influential in this kind of unheard of thinking? Below is the list of names. Anyone care to find out any other 'associations' these folks may have?

Bruce Nedrow (Ned) Calonge, M.D., M.P.H. (Chair)

Dr. Calonge, the Chief Medical Officer of the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment, is also the State Epidemiologist and the Executive Director of State Bioterrorism Preparedness. He is an Associate Professor of Family Medicine and of Preventive Medicine and Biometrics at the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center. Dr. Calonge is also the President of the Colorado Board of Medical Examiners, which licenses and provides regulatory oversight for physicians and physician assistants. Dr. Calonge serves on the Board of Directors for the Colorado Academy of Family Practice (President), the Colorado Foundation for Medical Care (Board Chair), and the Colorado Prevention Center. At the Colorado Medical Society, he chairs the Health Affairs Committee. He is a member of the Colorado Patient Safety Coalition.

Diana B. Petitti, M.D., M.P.H. (Vice Chair)

Dr. Petitti is a Professor of Biomedical Informatics at the Fulton School of Engineering, at Arizona State University. She was previously an Adjunct Professor at the University of Southern California, Los Angeles, and Senior Scientific Advisor for Health Policy and Medicine at Kaiser Permanente Southern CA, Pasadena, CA. She is a member of the American Public Health Association, the Society for Epidemiologic Research, and the American Epidemiologic Society and is a Fellow of the American Heart Association Council on Epidemiology. Dr. Petitti serves on the editorial board of Epidemiology, American Journal of Preventive Medicine, and American Journal of Medicine. She is also currently a member of the Institute of Medicine, New Approaches to Early Detection of Breast Cancer; the California Office of Statewide Planning on Health, and the Technical Advisory Committee.

Susan Curry, Ph.D.

Dr. Curry is the dean of the College of Public Health and distinguished professor of health management and policy at the University of Iowa. She is currently vice chair of the American Legacy Foundation's board of directors and a member of the National Cancer Institute's board of scientific advisors. Dr. Curry's research focuses on disease prevention and behavioral risk factor modification with a primary focus on tobacco use. Dr. Curry's research in tobacco includes studies of motivation to quit smoking, randomized trials of promising smoking cessation and prevention interventions, evaluations of the use and cost effectiveness of tobacco cessation treatments under different health insurance plans and health care costs and utilization associated with tobacco cessation.

Continued:

Allen J. Dietrich, M.D.

Dr. Dietrich, a board-certified family physician, is a professor of community and family medicine at Dartmouth Medical School and a member of the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences. He is also associate director for population sciences at the Norris Cotton Cancer Center at Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center and serves as chair of the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation Initiative on Depression and Primary Care.

Thomas G. DeWitt, M.D.

Thomas G. DeWitt, M.D. is the Carl Weihl Professor of Pediatrics, Director of the Division of General and Community Pediatrics, and Associate Chair for Primary Care, in the Department of Pediatrics, at the Children's Hospital Medical Center, Cincinnati, Ohio. Since the mid-1980s, he has served as the Project Director for the Bureau of Health Professions (BHPr) grants in General Pediatrics Residency Training and Faculty Development, both at Children's Hospital Medical Center Cincinnati and at the University of Massachusetts Medical Center. For 10 years, Dr. DeWitt served on the Board of Directors of the Ambulatory Pediatric Association (APA), serving as president from 1993-1994. He was instrumental in the APA's role in developing BHPr supported educational guidelines in general pediatrics for both medical students and residents. In 1996, Dr. DeWitt also served as Chair of the Planning Committee for the first national conference on faculty development, jointly sponsored by the BHPr and the American Association of Medical Colleges. He has published and presented extensively on the subject of community-based education and faculty development for community preceptors.

Kimberly D. Gregory, M.D., M.P.H.

Dr. Gregory is Director of Maternal-Fetal Medicine and Director of Women's Health Services Research at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, Los Angeles, CA. She is an Associate Professor at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, Department of Obstetrics & Gynecology and at the UCLA School of Public Health Department of Community Health Sciences. She is President of the Perinatal Advisory Council, Los Angeles Communities and has served on numerous advisory boards, including the Office of Statewide Health Planning and Development—California Health Policy and Data Advisory Commission on Lowering Cesarean Sections; the Department Health Services Maternal & Child Health Branch; Department of Health Services Office of Women's Health; the California Perinatal Quality Care Collaborative; and the March of Dimes. Dr. Gregory is a member of many professional organizations, including the American College of Obstetrics and Gynecology where she is currently on the OB Practice Committee and ACOG District IX Legislative Committee.

David Grossman, M.D., M.P.H.

Dr. Grossman, a board-certified pediatrician recognized for his research on injury prevention and Native American health, is medical director of preventive care at Group Health Cooperative in Seattle. He is also a senior investigator at the Group Health Center for Health Studies and a professor of health services and adjunct professor of pediatrics at the University of Washington. He serves on the Secretary's Advisory Committee on Injury Prevention and Control for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. In 2007, the American Academy of Pediatrics awarded Dr. Grossman the Native American Child Health Advocacy Award.

Continued:

George Isham, M.D., M.S.

George J. Isham, M.D. is Medical Director and Chief Health Officer for HealthPartners, a large health care organization in Minnesota, representing nearly 800,000 members. Dr. Isham is responsible for quality, utilization management, health promotion and disease management, research, and health professionals' education at HealthPartners. He is active in strategic planning and policy issues. He is an experienced primary care clinician and was chair of the Institute of Medicine committee that produced the report, Priority Areas for National Action: Transforming Health Care Quality.

Michael L. LeFevre, M.D., M.S.P.H.

Dr. LeFevre is a Professor in the Department of Family and Community Medicine at the University of Missouri School of Medicine, Columbia, Missouri. He is the Medical Director for Family Medicine at Missouri University Health Care; is Director of the Missouri University Health Care Electronic Medical Record project; Chair of the Credentialing Committee for the Department of Family Medicine; and Director of Clinical Services at the Department of Family Medicine. He has served on the Commission on Clinical Policies and Research of the American Academy of Family Physicians. Dr. LeFevre is a researcher, a published author and consultant, and has been invited to give many presentations across the country.

Rosanne Leipzig, M.D., Ph.D.

Dr. Leipzig, a board-certified internist and geriatrician is a professor in the departments of Geriatrics and Adult Development, Medicine, and Health Policy at Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York. She also serves as vice chair of Education in the Departments of Education and Geriatrics and Adult Development at Mount Sinai. She has been a recipient of the American College of Physicians Richard and Hinda Rosenthal award, given for the notable contribution her work in evidence-based medicine has made to improve clinical care in internal medicine.

Lucy N. Marion, Ph.D., R.N.

Dr. Marion is the new Dean and Professor at the Medical College of Georgia School of Nursing in Augusta, Georgia, after several years as Associate Dean for Academic Nursing Practice at the University of Illinois at Chicago College of Nursing. As a researcher, clinician (family nurse practitioner), published author, and international consultant, Dr. Marion has received numerous honors and awards. She has served on state and national advisory groups concerning mental health care, environmental risks to children, the genetics workforce, and the practice doctorate for nurses, and belongs to several professional organizations. Her NIH-funded translational research focuses on sexual risk reduction interventions for high risk minority populations. In Chicago, she developed a nurse-managed system in partnership with Thresholds Psychosocial Rehabilitation Agency for the delivery of integrated primary and mental health care for people with severe and persistent mental illness.

Joy Melnikow, M.D., M.P.H.

Dr. Melnikow is a professor in the Department of Family and Community Medicine and associate director of the Center for Healthcare Policy and Research at the University of California Davis. She is currently a deputy editor of Medical Care, standing member of the health services organization and delivery study section at the National Institutes of Health, contributing member of the California Health Benefits Program Task Force for the University of California's Office of the President and associate medical director of Healthwise, Inc. Dr. Melnikow's research interests include cost-effectiveness analysis to assist clinical and public health policy formulation, cancer prevention in women, patient preferences and decision making, underserved populations and health disparities.

Continued:

Bernadette Melnyk, Ph.D., R.N., C.P.N.P/N.P.P.

Dr. Melnyk is dean and distinguished foundation professor in nursing at the Arizona State University College of Nursing & Healthcare Innovation. She is a pediatric and psychiatric nurse practitioner whose research focuses on improving mental health outcomes in children, teens, and parents. She directs the National Association of Pediatric Nurse Practitioners' KySS mental health promotion program. She served on the American Academy of Pediatrics Mental Health Task Force in 2006 and the Institute of Medicine's working committee on evidence-based practice in 2007. For her dedication to innovative programming leading to health care solutions, the American Academy of Nursing named her a 2006 Edge Runner.

Wanda Nicholson, M.D., M.P.H., M.B.A.

Dr. Nicholson, a board-certified obstetrician-gynecologist and a perinatal epidemiologist, is an associate professor in the departments of gynecology and obstetrics and population, family and reproductive health at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine and Bloomberg School of Public Health in Baltimore. She is currently a member of the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists' committee on health care for underserved women and of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's public health working group on preconception care and health care. Dr. Nicholson's research focuses on the epidemiology of chronic conditions in women, including gestational diabetes, type 2 diabetes, obesity and the effect of depressive symptoms on health-related quality of life.

J. Sanford (Sandy) Schwartz, M.D.

Dr. Schwartz, a board-certified internal medicine specialist, is the Leon Hess Professor of Medicine, Health Management, and Economics at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine and Wharton School. He is past president of the American Federation of Clinical Research and the Society for Medical Decision Making, former Executive Director of the Leonard Davis Institute of Health Economics, and past Editor of the American Journal of Managed Care. An expert in the evaluation of medical practices and guidelines, Dr. Schwartz has served on the National Institutes of Health and Institute of Medicine committees in these areas. He is a member of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Medical Care Advisory Committee and the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Associations Medical Advisory Panel.

Timothy Wilt, M.D., M.P.H.

Dr. Wilt, a board-certified internal medicine specialist, is a professor in the Department of Medicine at the University of Minnesota and the Minneapolis VA Medical Center. As an investigator in the Minneapolis VA Health Services Research and Development Center for Chronic Disease Outcomes Research, his research interests include evidence-based chronic disease prevention and management. Dr. Wilt served on the Outcomes Research & Epidemiology Task Force in 1997 and currently sits on the editorial board of the American Journal of Medicine.

Actually, you are thinking right, but are targeting the wrong person in who's interest the decision is in.

This decision is actually in favor of the government. Considering they are trying to pass this health care bill through, and add in the public option, and voila, it saves costs. The thing about it is that in about a decade when the public option fully takes over, no mammograms for anybody under the age of 50, because the panel of "experts" say earlier is just a waste of money.

Then just go on from there. Beauacracy at it's finest deciding whether you live or die. As it currently stands you might have to pay a large chunk of change out of your pocket to get a mammogram, BUT you can still get one even if the insurance turns you down.