A professor at Penn State College of Medicine served on the high-profile federal Institute of Medicine committee that released a report this week on preventive health care for women.
Carol Weisman, associate dean for faculty affairs and distinguished professor of public health sciences and obstetrics and gynecology, was one of 16 experts who served on the panel. Weisman’s research interest long has been focused on issues surrounding women’s health care.
The panel was tasked with examining the services that insurance plans are currently required to provide free of charge to see what gaps may exist. The Affordable Care Act requires insurers to cover certain preventive health services without passing any cost along to subscribers.
The committee has garnered the most media attention for its recommendation that all insurers be required to cover contraceptives for women. In its report, the panel notes that about half of all pregnancies in the U.S. are unintended, and that such pregnancies put both the mother and baby at risk of adverse outcomes.
"Wider use of effective contraception methods would help to prevent these outcomes, and there is a wide range of safe methods approved by the FDA," Weisman says. "If these were provided to women without cost-sharing, use would increase."
Weisman acknowledges that some of the recommendations – especially the one pertaining to contraception – could spark debate. But she says the consensus of committee members was that "very strong evidence" exists for the benefits of the preventive services they are recommending insurers provide. Those services include the following:
-- screening for gestational diabetes
-- human papillomavirus (HPV) testing as part of cervical cancer screening for women over 30
-- counseling and screening for HIV
-- counseling on sexually transmitted infections
-- lactation counseling and equipment to promote breast-feeding
-- screening and counseling for domestic violence
-- annual preventive care visits
Weisman says serving on the panel amounted to a lot of work in the time since it was convened late last year, including reading, time spent in meetings and writing draft sections of the report. But above all, she says, it was an honor. "I felt compelled to accept the invitation to serve on the committee, as I knew our recommendations could prove very important to women’s health," Weisman says.
The committee submitted its report to Kathleen Sebelius, secretary of health and human services, who will decide whether to enact the recommendations. The full document can also be found on the Institute of Medicine website.