Providers are voicing concern over HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s firing of the vice chairs of the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF). They say the move raises fresh questions about whether politics are overtaking evidence-based care policy.
The USPSTF, founded more than 40 years ago, is a panel of experts who make recommendations on preventive health services like screenings, counseling and medications to improve the country’s population health. When the Affordable Care Act was passed in 2010, the law gave the USPSTF new power by requiring payers to fully cover preventive services at the panel rates A or B.
The panel of experts hasn’t convened in over a year. They were slated to meet last July, but Kennedy canceled the session, giving members just four days’ notice and no explanation as to why the meeting couldn’t take place.
The two newly ousted members are John Wong, a professor of medicine at Tufts University, and Esa Davis, professor of medicine at the University of Maryland. Kennedy fired them “to ensure clarity, continuity and confidence” in HHS’ oversight of the USPSTF, according to a letter obtained this week by the New York Times.
Provider groups argue that the move threatens the USPSTF’s scientific independence and could politicize decisions that shape Americans’ access to preventive care services.
The American Medical Association is “extremely concerned” about the firings, according to a statement issued by President Bobby Mukkamala on Wednesday.
“Today’s changes were foreshadowed by the earlier dismantling of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP). We strongly urge HHS to restore the USPSTF’s long-standing, transparent process for selecting members, specifically clinicians with expertise in the fields of preventive medicine and primary care. We also implore HHS to commit to once again holding regular task force meetings to ensure its important work can continue without further delay. Our patients’ lives depend on it,” Mukkamala’s statement read.
Health services research organization AcademyHealth also criticized the move, saying the removal of USPSTF leadership without a transparent explanation risks disrupting the panel’s work at a time when evidence-based care guidance is especially important.
“With a nomination deadline for new members this Saturday and no independent review of who gets seated, the free preventive services that millions of Americans rely on could be compromised, delayed or reversed,” the organization said in a statement.
This is not the first time Kennedy has clashed with the panel. Last summer, reports emerged that he wanted to dismiss all of the USPSTF’s members due their views being too “woke.”
Photographer: Eric Lee/Bloomberg via Getty Images
