USPSTF must focus on preventive medicine, not politics, ACP says

The newest appointees to the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) must be allowed to work free from political interference if the panel is to restore stability to its deliberations, according to the American College of Physicians (ACP).

Meanwhile, new members with expertise in kidney care could correct course of USPSTF by overcoming decades of inaction on kidney disease, according to American Association of Kidney Patients (AAKP). USPSTF and federal health officials also must be aware the board affects the finances of patients, not just their health, according to Community Catalyst, a grassroots advocacy group.

The organizations posted their reactions to last week's new appointments to USPSTF. Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality announced eight new task force members would fill out a volunteer panel that determines which cancer screenings, counseling services and preventive medications insurers must cover at no cost to patients.

ACP's concerns

The task force's recommendations are critical to ensuring patients receive preventive services based on the best possible scientific evidence, ACP President Jan K. Carney, M.D., M.P.H., MACP, said in a statement. Unfortunately, the task force has already been upended by firings of members who are typically involved in the new member selection process, and prevented from meeting for more than a year, Carney said.

“The American College of Physicians is therefore concerned by the announcement that eight new members have been appointed to the USPSTF and how these appointments may impact the work of the task force,” Carney said.

The task force has historically been staffed by primary care clinicians and specialists in preventive medicine and public health, chosen through a predictable, rolling nomination process. Primary care physicians rely heavily on its expertise, Carney said.

“It is imperative that any new members of our country's important public health bodies be chosen in a transparent way; vetted for their competency in evidence review, critical appraisal of research, and the application of evidence-based medicine,” Carney said. “They must be permitted to conduct their work in a scientifically independent manner.”

ACP, the largest medical specialty organization in the U.S. with more than 163,000 internal medicine physician members, called on “this newly reconstituted task force to conduct its decision-making grounded in evidence-based and science-backed medicine, free from political interference,” Carney said.

AAKP's praise

AAKP said the new appointees bring expertise the task force has long needed. The group has led the kidney community's push to reform USPSTF, including a new screening recommendation for people at highest risk of kidney disease. Kidney disease affects more than 37 million Americans, and interrelated cardiovascular, kidney and metabolic conditions affect more than 25% of U.S. adults. AAKP also cited an American Heart Association estimate that as many as 90% of U.S. adults have some degree of those interconnected conditions.

“We applaud Secretary Kennedy for appointing medical professionals who have the diverse range of life experiences and professional credentials necessary to advance patient-centered medicine, especially kidney health,” AAKP President Edward V. Hickey III said in a statement. Hickey is a chronic kidney disease patient and U.S. Marine Corps veteran.

“As an organization driven solely by the interests of patients, AAKP has proudly led the fight to reform the USPSTF and to challenge the excuses that have been offered to the kidney community for the Task Force's years of inaction and the harm done to people most vulnerable to kidney disease,” Hickey said. “We look forward to a renewed era and commitment to chronic disease prevention and the harnessing of all available evidence, including the impact of new therapies that reduce patient burdens.”

AAKP Vice President and Chair of Policy and Global Affairs Paul T. Conway is a 49-year kidney patient and 29-year kidney transplant recipient. He praised Kennedy's action and was blunt in his criticism of USPSTF.

The HHS secretary “used his authority to appoint experts familiar with early disease prevention and detection, Native American and rural health, innovations including AI, as well as the management of interrelated chronic heart, kidney, and metabolic diseases,” Conway said in the statement.

“For the past 20 years, the USPSTF has demonstrated complete incompetence in regard to kidney health and disease prevention,” he added. Having new appointees “marks an opportunity to change that trajectory and to help make America healthier.”

Community Catalyst's warning

The task force's decisions carry real financial stakes for patients, along with potential health concerns, said a statement from Shaina Goodman, the group's vice president of policy and government affairs.

“Whether people know about it or not, the USPSTF is a major player affecting the health and pocketbooks of everyone,” Goodman said. “This traditionally independent board holds immense power in determining which preventive services – like cancer screenings, pregnancy care, and vision and dental services for kids – are delivered with no out-of-pocket cost. Appointing new members who do not have a medical background or have expressed unfounded skepticism about essential health services and their benefits is a cause for alarm.

“The expectation of the new appointees will be to remain immoveable by any possible political pressure from the administration and to uphold the USPSTF's role as an independent body making public health recommendations based on evidence, not ideology,” she said.

Task force under scrutiny

Seth J. Corey, M.D., M.P.H., a pediatric hematologist-oncologist, was named the panel's new chair. Corey succeeds Michael Silverstein, M.D., M.P.H., who departed the task force earlier this year, according to news reports.

Kennedy dismissed two vice chairs, John B. Wong, M.D., MACP, and Esa M. Davis, M.D., M.P.H., in May, drawing a rebuke at the time from the American Medical Association (AMA). Five other members' terms expired in December without being renewed, and the panel, which typically meets three times a year, had not held a formal meeting since 2025.

Testifying before the House Ways and Means Committee in April, Kennedy called the task force “lackadaisical and negligent” and pledged more frequent meetings and greater transparency going forward, part of a broader push to overhaul the panel that included an unusually compressed one-month window for nominations.

The shift in the panel's composition also drew criticism from AMA President Willie Underwood III, M.D., M.Sc., M.P.H., who said the task force's credibility “has been built on a membership grounded in prevention and primary care.” Congressional Democrats raised similar objections: In March, 18 senators led by Sen. Angus King, I-Maine, warned Kennedy that the panel had gone a year without meeting, and in May, Rep. Maxine Dexter, D-Ore., a pulmonologist, led more than 65 House members in a letter accusing the administration of trying to politicize the panel's work.

The secretary's authority to remove and replace task force members was itself contested until the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in June 2025, in Kennedy v. Braidwood Management, that USPSTF members are “inferior officers” subject to removal and appointment by the HHS secretary. The ruling also upheld the Affordable Care Act's zero-cost-sharing mandate for the panel's top-graded recommendations.