November 30, 2011 – The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) discovered technical issues with its Web site that resulted in the loss of a portion of the public comments submitted electronically for its recent draft recommendation statements on screening for coronary heart disease, hearing loss, and prostate cancer.
Comments submitted were affected as follows:
- For screening for coronary heart disease with electrocardiography: comments submitted between September 27 and October 11, 2011.
- For screening for hearing loss in older adults: comments submitted between October 4 and October 11, 2011.
- For screening for prostate cancer: comments submitted on October 11, 2011 before the late afternoon.
Individuals who submitted comments electronically during these periods received messages confirming their comments were submitted even though the USPSTF was not receiving them.
While this technical issue was immediately resolved and many public comments on all of these topics have been received, the Task Force wants to ensure that anyone who submitted comments that may have been lost has the opportunity to send them. To this end, the public comment period for these three topics will be reopened from November 30 to December 13.
The USPSTF regrets this inconvenience, but believes it is most important to allow everyone's voice to be heard. The Task Force will carefully review all comments from the public it receives and will use them to craft its final recommendation statements.
