47310 Federal Register / Vol. 75, No. 150 / Thursday, August 5, 2010 / Notices 

Dated: July 30, 2010. 

Jennifer S. Spaeth, 

Director, Office of Federal Advisory 

Committee Policy. 

[FR Doc. 2010–19210 Filed 8–4–10; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 4140–01–P 

DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND 

HUMAN SERVICES 

Agency for Healthcare Research and 

Quality 

Solicitation for Nominations for New 

Clinical Preventive Health Topics To 

Be Considered for Review by the 

United States Preventive Services Task 

Force 

AGENCY: Agency for Healthcare Research 

and Quality (AHRQ), DHHS. 

ACTION: Solicit for new topic 

nominations. 

SUMMARY: The Agency for Healthcare 

Research and Quality (AHRQ) invites 

individuals and organizations to 

nominate primary and secondary 

prevention topics pertaining to clinical 

preventive services that they would like 

the United States Preventive Services 

Task Force (USPSTF) to consider for 

review. All topics previously reviewed 

by the USPSTF are available on AHRQ’s 

Web site, http://www.preventive 

services.AHRQ.gov. 

The USPSTF is an independent panel 

of experts that makes evidence-based 

recommendations regarding the 

provision of clinical preventive services. 

Clinical preventive services include 

screening, counseling and preventive 

medications associated with primary 

care. The USPSTF makes 

recommendations about preventive 

services for asymptomatic people— 

people without recognized signs or 

symptoms of the specific condition 

targeted by the preventive service. 

Topics can be nominated by 

individuals, organizations, evidencebased practice centers (EPC) and 

USPSTF members. The USPSTF will 

consider topic nominations in two 

steps. The USPSTF will first determine 

if the topic relates to a service is 

eligible, i.e., constitutes primary or 

secondary prevention applicable to 

healthy asymptomatic persons; is 

primary care-feasible or referable from 

primary care; and addresses a condition 

with a substantial health burden. As a 

second step, within eligible topics, the 

USPSTF will prioritize based on the 

following set of criteria: Public health 

importance (burden of suffering, 

potential of preventive service to reduce 

the burden); and potential for greatest 

Task Force impact (e.g., clinical 

controversy, practice does not reflect 

evidence, inappropriate timing in 

delivery of services). 

Basic Topic Nomination Requirements 

Nominations must be no more than 

500 words in length and must include 

the information listed below. 

Nominations may include supporting 

documentation; reference lists and other 

supporting documents are not counted 

against the 500 word limit, but should 

not exceed ten pages. 

Required Information 

1. Name of topic. 

2. Rationale for consideration by the 

USPSTF, describing: 

a. Characterization as primary or 

secondary prevention topic (screening, 

counseling or preventive medication). 

b. Primary care relevance (applicable 

clinical preventive service must be 

provided by a primary care provider and 

or initiated in the primary care setting 

which can be defined as family practice, 

internal medicine, pediatrics or 

obstetrics/gynecology). 

c. Public health importance (burden 

of disease/suffering, potential of 

preventive service to reduce burden, 

including effective interventions). 

Citations and supporting documents are 

recommended. 

d. Potential impact of USPSTF’s 

review of the topic, i.e., change in 

clinical practice, research focus, etc. 

DATES: Topic nominations should be 

submitted by August 27, 2010 in order 

to be considered for 2010–2012. AHRQ 

will not reply to submissions in 

response to the request for nominations, 

but will consider all topic nominations 

during the selection process. If a topic 

is selected for review by the USPSTF, 

the nominator will be notified by 

AHRQ. 

ADDRESSES: Please submit nominations 

to: Gloria Washington, ATTN: USPSTF 

Topic Nominations, Center for Primary 

Care, Prevention & Clinical 

Partnerships, Agency for Healthcare 

Research and Quality 540 Gaither Road, 

Room 6117, Rockville, MD 20850. Fax: 

301–427–1595. E-mail: 

qloria.washinqton@AHRQ.hhs.gov. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Robert Cosby at robert.cosby@ 

AHRQ.hhs.qov or Gloria Washington at 

qloria.washington@AHRQ.hhs.gov. 

Arrangement for Public Inspection: 

All nominations will be available for 

public inspections by appointment at 

the Center for Primary Care, Prevention 

& Clinical Partnerships, 301–427–1500, 

weekdays between 10 a.m. and 5 p.m. 

(Eastern time). 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

Background 

Under Title IX of the Public Health 

Service Act, AHRQ is charged with 

enhancing the quality, appropriateness 

and effectiveness of health care services 

and access to such services. AHRQ 

accomplishes these goals through 

scientific research and promotion of 

improvements in clinical practice, 

including prevention of diseases and 

other health conditions. 42 U.S.C. 

299(b). 

The United States Preventive Services 

Task Force (USPSTF) is an independent 

expert panel, first established in 1984 

under the auspices of the U.S. Public 

Health Service. Under AHRQ’s 

authorizing legislation, see 42 U.S.C. 

299b–4(a)(1), the Director of AHRQ is 

responsible for convening the USPSTF, 

which is to be composed of individuals 

with appropriate expertise. The mission 

of the Task Force is to review the 

scientific evidence related to the 

effectiveness, and appropriateness of 

clinical preventive services for the 

purpose of developing 

recommendations for the health care 

community. Current Task Force 

recommendations and associated 

evidence reviews are available at 

http:// 

www.preventiveservices.AHRQ.gov. 

Topic Nomination Solicitation 

The purpose of this solicitation for 

new topics by AHRQ and the USPSTF 

is to create a balanced portfolio of 

relevant topics for the current Task 

Force library. Balance in the library is 

sought on the basis of populations, 

types of services (screening, counseling, 

preventive medications) and disease 

types (cancer; heart and vascular 

disease; injury and violence-related 

disorders; infectious diseases; mental 

disorders and substance abuse; 

metabolic, nutritional and endocrine 

diseases; musculoskeletal conditions; 

obstetric and gynecological conditions; 

pediatric disorders; and, vision and 

hearing disorders). Selection of 

suggested topics will be made on the 

basis of the qualifications of 

nominations as outlined above (see 

basic topic nomination requirements). 

Dated: July 26, 2010. 

Carolyn M. Clancy, 

Director. 

[FR Doc. 2010–19117 Filed 8–4–10; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 4160–90–M 

mstockstill on DSKH9S0YB1PROD with NOTICES