by
John R. Fischer, Senior Reporter | April 03, 2023
The decision also affects services like heart screenings and tobacco programs, as well as recommendations on when patients should be eligible to undergo mammo for breast cancer detection;
CT for lung cancer; and PSA testing for prostate cancer. Some experts have criticized these guidelines, saying that they do not go far enough or incorporate important factors for accurately determining risks of developing diseases.
Earlier this year, clinicians at the Cancer Intervention and Surveillance Modeling Network (CISNET) Lung Working Group, which includes the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, said in a study that more advanced risk-based lung cancer screening models that account for more risk factors
may be more cost-effective and yield more quality-adjusted life years than USPSTF guidelines.
But some research has shown that these guidelines address care gaps, such as a report that showed USPSTF 2021 update for lung cancer screenings
to be responsible for reducing screening eligibility gaps between races from 10% in 2013 to 2%.
Additionally, Andrew Twinamatsiko and Zachary Baron, associate directors of the Health Policy and the Law Initiative at the O'Neill Institute for National and Global Health Law at Georgetown University, told HCB News that ACA mandates encourage patients to get screened before showing signs of ailments, a sign that conditions are late-stage and harder to treat.
“If this requirement is set aside, like the Braidwood court has done, that means hospitals will, in the long-run, be dealing with patients that have delayed treatment or care, which is bound to put greater stress on the health system overall,” they said.
What happens next?
Twinamatsiko and Baron told HCB News that the decision will create a lot of "confusion," as different insurers make different stipulations as they see fit. “They [hospitals and health systems] will have to encourage their patients to accept lifesaving services and at the same time commit resources to help navigate the confusion that the decision has created with respect to the coverage of such services."
In a statement, Lisa Lacasse, president of the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network, also said the ruling would prevent early cancer detection and treatment.
American Medical Association president Jack Resneck said patients "will be subjected to needless illness and preventable deaths.”
