The American College of Radiology has requested an opportunity to testify before the Senate Health Education Labor and Pensions Committee against the recent mammography guidelines put forth by the US Preventive Services Task Force. 

ACR has a commercial interest in the outcome of debate surrounding these guidelines. Senator Harkin, who chairs the Senate HELP Committee, should require disclosure of their commerical interests as part of their testimony.

Radiologists have an interest in maintaining high mammography utilization rates among US women aged 40-49. Estimates suggest that annual mammographies in this age group produce $2.1B in revenue annually for radiologists. While individual procedure reimbursements are not high, gross revenues are enormous and provide a substantial income for many radiology clinics.

The risks of false positive breast cancer diagnoses among women are high and real. While the USPSTF guidelines tried to address these risks on the basis of scientific evidence, their message was politically tone deaf and poorly crafted. In the vacuum left by their this political blunder, commerical interests should not be allowed to take center stage, at least not without full disclosure.