NEW YORK (Reuters Health) – In a field plagued by frequent controversy, the American Cancer Society has taken “a major step forward” with a new system for developing trustworthy screening recommendations.
Instead of having cancer specialists develop its guidelines, the ACS now leaves that to generalist health care professionals accompanied by a patient advocate.
The approach has previously drawn criticism for another prominent guideline-writing organization. The ACS argues, however, that it gets rid of an obvious conflict of interest, because oncologists might benefit financially from recommending new screening tests, which lead to more diagnoses and treatment.
Still, pulling the cancer experts, or subspecialists, was the toughest part of revamping the guideline process, said Dr. Tim Byers of the ACS, who led the new efforts.
“The conflict is that they know the most about it, but they also have the most self-interest in it,” he told Reuters Health.
The ACS is the largest voluntary health organization in the U.S., and its guidelines are used by patients, doctors, insurance companies and policymakers alike. An article in today’s Journal of the American Medical Association outlines its new system.
Most other groups that develop medical guidelines still have leading specialists at the helm. One exception is the government-backed U.S. Preventive
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