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Many recommended clinical preventive services are delivered at low rates. Decision-makers who wish to improve delivery rates, but face competing demands for finite resources, need information on the relative value of these services. This article describes the results of a systematic assessment of the value of clinical preventive services recommended for average-risk patients by the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force.The assessment of services' value for the U.S. population was based on two dimensions: burden of disease prevented by each service and cost effectiveness. Methods were developed for measuring these criteria consistently across different types of services. A companion article describes the methods in greater detail. Each service received 1 to 5 points on each of the two dimensions, for total scores ranging from 2 to 10. Priority opportunities for improving delivery rates were determined by comparing the ranking of services with what is known of current delivery rates nationally.The highest ranked services (scores of 7+) with the lowest delivery rates (or =50% nationally) are providing tobacco cessation counseling to adults, screening older adults for undetected vision impairments, offering adolescents an anti-tobacco message or advice to quit, counseling adolescents on alcohol and drug abstinence, screening adults for colorectal cancer, screening young women for chlamydial infection, screening adults for problem drinking, and vaccinating older adults against pneumococcal disease.Decision-makers can use the results to set their own priorities for increasing delivery of clinical preventive services. The methods provide a basis for future priority-setting efforts.

Tobacco use, diet and physical activity patterns, and alcohol use are the leading causes of death in the United States. To make major improvements in the health status of the population, behavioral risk factors for disease must be addressed.We propose a brief survey of behavioral risk factors for enrollees of health care organizations, employer groups, or other adult populations that can be used to profile the health risk behaviors of a population, assess performance of prevention and risk reduction programs, or make comparisons with other populations. The survey contains questions about tobacco, diet, physical activity, alcohol, firearms, motor vehicle safety, sexual behavior, and drugs.Recommendations for survey items, implementation, and calculation of performance measures are given.Widespread adoption of this type of survey would be a major step forward in acknowledging the impact that behavior has on health and in furthering individual and organizational accountability for improving health risk behaviors.