Health plans, employers, and health care providers depend on federal guidance to know what preventive services must be covered at no cost.
Changes to the panel behind those determinations can quickly reshape coverage obligations and consumer expectations.
Law360 Healthcare Authority recently reported on the disruption at the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force. The panel added eight new members after an extended stretch without a meeting. Richard H. Hughes IV, Member of the Firm of Epstein Becker Green and counsel to health care and life sciences organizations on vaccine and preventive services policy, coverage, and access, discussed what the new panel's composition signals for the group's direction.
The incoming members mark a departure from the task force's traditional makeup of primary care providers, Richard noted.
"It's a really interesting group of people in the sense that it consists of mostly specialists," Hughes said.
Roughly 18 pending recommendations, spanning autism and prostate cancer screenings, remain unresolved while the panel's meeting schedule stays unsettled.
Get in Touch
To discuss how changes to the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force may affect your organization's coverage obligations for preventive services, contact Richard H. Hughes IV at RHHughes@ebglaw.com.
