So many preventive services are effective that it is
difficult for patients, payers, providers, and purchasers
to know which ones are most important to
focus on with limited time or resources. In order to
provide such an aid to prioritization, the National
Commission on Prevention Priorities was created by
Partnership for Prevention with funding from the Centers
for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the
Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ).
The first ranking of prevention priorities was published
in 2001, with an update and addition of other services
added in 2006.1,2 As part of the 2006 update, a brief
alcohol misuse screening and counseling intervention
ranked in the top five, ahead of nearly 20 other
effective services. This paper provides the information