The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) is pleased to present The Guide to Clinical Preventive Services 2006, which will give you the information you need to provide evidence-based clinical preventive services to your patients.
Research has clearly demonstrated that providing high quality, evidence-based preventive care is a critical factor in helping people live healthier lives. We also know from research that the best way to ensure that preventive services are delivered appropriately is to make evidence-based information readily available at the point of care.
To that end, The Guide puts the "gold standard" of preventive care at your fingertips so you can provide effective preventive services, recommended by the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) and based on the latest scientific evidence, to your patients every day. The 2006 Guide offers recommendations on 53 clinical preventive services made by the Task Force from 2001 to 2005.
The Task Force, sponsored by AHRQ, is an independent panel of experts in primary care and prevention that uses systematic evidence reviews of effectiveness to develop recommendations for clinical preventive services. In basic terms, the Task Force has reviewed the available scientific evidence to create a road map for the delivery of effective, appropriate clinical preventive services. Its unbiased recommendations have helped policymakers, clinicians, and insurers distinguish necessary from unnecessary services and have identified those services that are harmful or about which there is uncertainty.
We are thrilled with the positive response to last year's Guide. Feedback from last year also has prompted some changes. The most important is that this year, in addition to the Task Force recommendations, The Guide includes the CDC Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) immunization schedules for children and adults. This collaboration with ACIP means that clinicians now have a fuller spectrum of recommended clinical preventive services in one resource.
Also this year, we are releasing a new Adult Preventive Services Timeline (PDF File, 100 KB; PDF Help), displaying the current recommended services in a consumer-friendly format. While The Guide serves as a clinical reference for you, this easy-to-read wall poster can serve as a reference for your patients to learn about preventive healthcare.
I urge you to use the evidence and recommendations in The Guide to direct your preventive health care decisions. Using evidence to guide clinical decisions is key to fulfilling our overarching goal as physicians to "first, do no harm." We offer this Guide as a practical resource to help you meet that goal.
Carolyn M. Clancy, M.D.
Director
Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality