Screening policy for cystic fibrosis: the role of evidence

Setting priorities about medical services, including genetic testing services, often occurs in an extemporaneous fashion. Normative assumptions may not be examined critically, although doing so is a necessary component of making health policy decisions about clinical practice. The normative dimension to health policy questions suggests a need for greater public participation in the development of clinical practice guidelines. The experiences of newborn screening and carrier screening for cystic fibrosis in the United States can be examined within the framework of two models of health policy development that help explain the role in health policy development of normative assumptions and public participation. Specifically, this paper focuses on assumptions about what counts as sufficient empirical data to make health policy decisions.