Chair of U.S. Preventive Services Task Force Pledges to Recommend Re-evaluation of Recent Glaucom...( Hon. Louis Sullivan M.D. Former Secr...),Health

Hon. Louis Sullivan, M.D., Former Secretary of HHS, Senator Norm Coleman, Deputy HHS Secretary Tevi Troy, Hon. Mark McClellan, M.D., Ph.D., and members of the patient and medical community participate in a conference to consider the scientific evidence countering the United States Preventive Services Task Force report dismissing the vital role of Glaucoma Screening

ARLINGTON, Va., Oct. 24 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The Potomac Institute for Policy Studies and the Glaucoma Foundation convened a daylong conference at the National Press Club to examine the recent United States Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) determination that there is insufficient scientific evidence to support the practice of screening for glaucoma. Participants called for transparency and accountability in the USPSTF's process for formulating its recommendations in the future.

The conference was addressed by Dr. Louis Sullivan, the Former Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS); Dr. Tevi Troy, the current Deputy Secretary of HHS; Dr. Mark McClellan, former Commissioner of FDA and former Medicare Administrator; and Senator Norm Coleman (MN), in addition to glaucoma patients and advocates, two medical school deans, scientific experts, and representatives of Medicare, the Veterans Health Administration (VA), the National Commission for Quality Assurance (NCQA), and the former Surgeon General of the U.S. Navy.

The conference was convened because the USPSTF had previously declined to consider public comment presenting new information, and the speakers highlighted the urgent need for review of the evidence before patients might be further harmed. As Dr. Sullivan, the honorary conference chair, called for greater openness and transparency in the USPSTF policy process in his opening remarks, saying, " ... we're holding the hearing that should have been held, here in the public eye." Dr. Sullivan went on to say,

"How could it be that in the fa
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