The National Cancer Policy Summit: Opportunities and Challenges in Cancer Research and Care by Institute of Medicine of the National Academies

Author:Institute of Medicine of the National Academies
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Health and Medicine : Diseases - Cancer. Health and Medicine : Medical Technologies and Treatments
Publisher: NATIONAL ACADEMIES PRESS
Published: 2011-05-25T00:00:00+00:00

Role of Public Health

Dr. Plescia expanded on the role of public health in cancer screening in the era of health reform. He said that outreach to encourage cancer screening can be done at the general population level via reminders sent by government programs, as is done in some European countries. Given that a larger population will be enrolled in Medicaid once the healthcare legislation is implemented, there may be more opportunity to reach people through this program and other government programs. Presumably, more people will also be receiving primary care on a regular basis when more of them have health insurance that cover preventive measures like screening, so reminders for screening sent by primary care providers might be more effective in reaching the general population, he said. But there may still be a need to educate patients about the value of regular primary care visits and screening tests. The CDC’s Task Force on Community Preventive Services3 summarizes evidence in cancer-related areas, such as tobacco use, diet and exercise, and interventions to increase use of cancer screening.

3 See http://www.thecommunityguide.org/about/task-force-members.html.

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