ACR applauds spending bill’s extension of rule that recognizes 2002 USPSTF breast cancer screening recommendations

When President Trump signed the $1.3 trillion spending bill into law on March 23, it included an extension of a rule first passed in 2015 that recognizes 2002 U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) breast cancer screening recommendations as opposed to 2009 or 2016 recommendations.

The 2009 and 2016 USPSTF breast cancer screening recommendations called for biennial screening for patients ages 50-74, while the 2002 recommendations called for screening every one to two years beginning at age 40.

The American College of Radiology (ACR) showed its support of this decision in a prepared statement. Without the extension, the ACR noted, there could be more than 13,000 more breast cancer deaths annually in the U.S. “This extension helps ensure insurers continue to cover annual mammograms for women starting at age 40,” the ACR statement read. “A lack of insurance coverage for screening mammograms would particularly impact underserved areas where screening is already less frequent.”