USPSTF Activities on Behavioral Counseling and Pharmacotherapy Interventions for Tobacco Cessation

Soon, the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF, Task Force) will be posting for public comment our draft research plan on behavioral counseling and pharmacotherapy interventions for tobacco cessation in adults, including pregnant women on our Web site. We thought that you and members of your organization might be interested in providing us with feedback on this draft research plan and in receiving periodic updates on this topic. As such, I invite you to sign up for the USPSTF email list to receive announcements and updates on this and other Task Force recommendations about clinical preventive services. The USPSTF email list is open to anyone with interest in our work, so please let members of your organization know about this opportunity to offer comments on our research plan and the ability to sign up to receive updates from the Task Force.

As you may know, the Task Force is an independent, volunteer panel of national experts in prevention and evidence-based medicine. Our mission is to improve the health of all Americans by making evidence-based recommendations about clinical preventive services such as screenings, counseling services, and preventive medications. The Task Force believes that the recommendation development process should be clear and transparent and, in an effort to ensure this, has implemented public comment periods throughout the recommendation process. The purpose of the public comment process is to seek feedback from organizations like yours, along with the general public, at each stage of development. The Task Force believes that our recommendations are ultimately improved when groups who care about and are knowledgeable about particular topics share their expertise. We solicit outside input to ensure that final recommendations are valid, reliable, and useful to health professionals, patients, and family members.

Individuals who sign up for the USPSTF email list will be alerted about opportunities to provide public comment on draft materials for behavioral counseling and pharmacotherapy interventions for tobacco cessation and other Task Force topics. Email alerts will also be sent when final materials are posted or published, including the release of final recommendation statements. For each topic, an email announcement will be sent at the following stages of the recommendation development process:

• Posting of the draft research plan for public comment
• Posting of the final research plan
• Posting of the draft evidence report and draft recommendation statement for public comment
• Posting and publication of the final evidence report and final recommendation statement

We hope that you will widely disseminate the final recommendation statement among your membership and encourage your members to implement it once it becomes available.

As I noted earlier, the USPSTF email list is open to all interested organizations and individuals. If you know of any other national or local organizations, subject matter experts, or individuals who are interested in learning about Task Force recommendations like behavioral counseling and pharmacotherapy interventions for tobacco cessation, public comment opportunities, and other Task Force activities, please encourage them to sign up, as well.

To learn more about the Task Force, you can view a Task Force 101 slideshow here or visit our Web site: www.uspreventiveservicestaskforce.org.

Source: Virginia Moyer, M.D., M.P.H., Chair, U.S. Preventive Services Task Force