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American Family Physician Publishes Preventive Services Task Force’s Guidelines on Newborn Hearing Screening

Journal Is First Publisher of USPSTF Recommendations

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Monday, January 21, 2002

Contact:
Adam Lee
American Academy of Family Physicians
(800) 274-2237 Ext. 5221
alee@aafp.org

LEAWOOD, Kan. — The American Academy of Family Physicians’ clinical journal, American Family Physician, has published the first in a series of clinical practice recommendations from the United States Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF). The first recommendation, “Newborn Hearing Screening: Recommendations and Rationale,” was printed in the December 15, 2001 issue of AFP.

The USPSTF reports present recommendations on preventive health services for use in primary care offices, the rationale for the recommendations, and the supporting scientific evidence. The recommendations can be viewed at www.aafp.org/afp, AFP ’s Web site.

The recommendations on newborn hearing screening that appear in AFP were excerpted from the original Recommendation and Rationale Statement. To view the guideline and other task force reports, go to the USPSTF Web site at www.ahrq.gov/clinic/uspstfix.htm

“We feel that this is another way we can help physicians learn about the latest recommendations from the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force,” said Jay Siwek, M.D., AFP editor. “This series of reports represents a wonderful collaboration between the Academy and the Agency on Healthcare Research and Quality.”

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Founded in 1947, the AAFP represents more than 93,000 physicians and medical students nationwide. It is the only medical society devoted solely to primary care.

Nearly one in four of all office visits are made to family physicians. That is 215 million office visits each year – nearly 48 million more than the next medical specialty. Today, family physicians provide the majority of care for America’s underserved and rural populations.

In the increasingly fragmented world of health care where many medical specialties limit their practice to a particular organ, disease, age or sex, family physicians are dedicated to treating the whole person across the full spectrum of ages. Family medicine’s cornerstone is an ongoing, personal patient-physician relationship focused on integrated care.

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