Every row, sourced, graded, and dated.

How to read the grades

Most rows carry a U.S. Preventive Services Task Force letter grade. Vaccine rows come from the CDC's Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP). Other rows are non-graded U.S. federal public-health guidance (CDC, NIH, CMS, HRSA) where no USPSTF grade governs the choice.

• A / B — recommended; the net benefit is at least moderate. By law, ACA-compliant plans must cover A/B services with no cost-sharing in-network (healthcare.gov).
• C — offer selectively; the decision is individual, shared with the clinician (the net benefit is small).
• I — insufficient evidence to recommend for or against; the choice is individualized. An I grade is not an instruction to skip.
• ACIP — a CDC/ACIP immunization recommendation. Federal — other U.S. federal public-domain guidance (CDC health topics, NIH — NHLBI/NIA/NLM/NCI/NIDDK, HRSA, CMS) used where no USPSTF grade governs the row. Every source on this page is U.S. federal public domain. This page uses and reproduces no copyrighted professional-society material.

The schedule, with sources

Populations are for average risk unless noted. ♀ female, ♂ male. "Verified" is the date we last confirmed the row against the issuing body's live page; treat older dates as needing a re-check.

Where the guideline bodies disagree — and why we show it

For several common screenings, major U.S. bodies give different guidance. Printing one number as settled would hide that disagreement. Three examples matter here:

Breast — cadence and start

USPSTF (2024): biennial, 40–74, grade B. Some other medical organizations and many breast specialists advise annual screening from 40 and screening past 74; they diverge from USPSTF on interval and stop age. They agree on starting at or before 40. The template prints the USPSTF interval and says explicitly that some advise yearly: the cadence is a clinician conversation.

Cervical — the update that hasn't landed

The current USPSTF cervical recommendation is still the 2018 statement (verified against the live USPSTF page July 13, 2026 — it carries a "this topic is being updated" banner but the 2018 guidance stands). The draft update moves to primary HPV testing from 25 and adds a self-collection option; it is not final. Some cancer-screening guidelines already recommend HPV-based testing with a self-collection option, so we print the in-force USPSTF ages, flag that an update is coming, and will move when the USPSTF update finalizes.

Prostate — a conversation

USPSTF grades PSA screening C for 55–69 (individualized, shared decision) and I at 70+. For men at higher risk (Black men, or those with a father or brother diagnosed young), the CDC notes the conversation should start earlier (CDC risk factors). We present both, because a Black man at 45 reading only the USPSTF row would miss a conversation he should be having.

Women, aging, and the menopause transition

The template gives menopause its own callout because it's the clearest case of risk changing with a life stage. The evidence behind that callout:

• Timing. Average age of natural menopause in the U.S. is about 51–52; the transition (perimenopause) most often begins between 45 and 55 and lasts around seven years (NIA, Office on Women's Health).
• Bone. Estrogen loss accelerates bone resorption; this is why USPSTF explicitly extends osteoporosis screening below 65 to postmenopausal women at increased fracture risk (USPSTF, Jan 2025, grade B). 65 is not a hard floor.
• Heart. Cardiovascular risk rises through and after the transition as estrogen's protective effect on lipids, vessels, and fat distribution fades (NIA; Office on Women's Health). Practically: the blood-pressure, lipid, and glucose rows matter more at this stage.
• Red flag. Postmenopausal bleeding is abnormal and warrants prompt evaluation: it is the most common symptom of uterine (endometrial) cancer (NCI; CDC). It's on the template as a "call promptly." It is not a screening interval.

The quality-measure crosswalk (HEDIS®)

Most rows above are also things health plans are graded on. The federal CMS Star Ratings program publishes these quality measures (many drawn from the HEDIS® set) in the public domain; the "care gap" call a member gets is one of these measures with their name in it. The crosswalk to the names your plan uses:

The design intent: hand the member the same instrument the plan uses, so "closing a care gap" becomes something a person does for themselves, on their own record, before anyone calls.

Verification and update schedule

Prevention guidelines change often enough that an undated schedule is a hazard. Four rows in this table changed in 2024–2025 alone (mammography start/interval, osteoporosis method, pneumococcal age, RSV/COVID posture), and the cervical row is under revision now. The update rules are:

• Every row carries a "verified" date. This build was verified July 13, 2026 against the issuing bodies' live pages. No row came from training memory.
• Federal public-domain sources alone. Every row is taken from a U.S. federal public-domain authority — USPSTF, CDC/ACIP, CMS/Medicare, NIH (NHLBI, NIA, NLM/MedlinePlus, NCI, NIDDK), HRSA, and ODPHP. We deliberately do not reproduce or rely on copyrighted professional-society materials (see the attribution note below). During this build a consumer-health aggregator asserted "RSV at 55+" and "shingles lowered to 45" for 2026; neither verified on cdc.gov, and both were excluded. Aggregators are not citable for this document.
• The template tells the reader to re-check annually and stamps its own verification date, so a printed copy carries its own expiry signal.
• Corrections propagate by version. When a guideline finalizes (the cervical update, say), this page changes, dated, and the plain-words template follows: the same versioning grammar the rest of the site uses.

What this page is not

• Not clinical decision support. It informs a person and their clinician; it does not compute an individualized recommendation, and it makes no risk calculation.
• The primary sources govern. This page summarizes them and cannot replace them. Where a decision is close, read the linked recommendation in full: the grade rationale and the risk-based exceptions live there.
• U.S.-scoped. Every body cited is American. Other countries' programs differ in age, interval, and method.
• Average-risk by default. Personal and family history shift ages and cadences; that adjustment is the clinician's, and the template is built to be overwritten by it.

Where this stands