AHRQ Study Finds Few Adults Receive All Recommended Preventive Services

A new AHRQ study published in the June edition of Health Affairsfound that in 2015, only 8 percent of adults 35 and older received all highly recommended preventive services, and about 5 percent of adults reported they received none of them. These results are based on a new AHRQ Medical Expenditure Panel Survey questionnaire and first-of-its-kind measure that gauges the use of a broad spectrum of high-priority preventive services, including screening, counseling, preventive medications and vaccinations. The analysis did find some better news: more than 20 percent of adults reported receiving more than 75 percent of the recommended services, a finding that shows improvement is possible, the authors concluded. Access the study abstract.

Few Americans Receive All High-Priority, Appropriate Clinical Preventive Services

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AFFILIATIONS

PUBLISHED:JUNE 2018No Access

ABSTRACT

As of 2015, only 8 percent of US adults ages thirty-five and older had received all of the high-priority, appropriate clinical preventive services recommended for them. Nearly 5 percent of adults did not receive any such services. Further delivery system–level efforts are needed to increase the use of preventive services.