Providers express concern over HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s firing of vice presidents of the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF). They say the move raises new questions about whether politics trumps evidence-based care policy.
The USPSTF, founded more than 40 years ago, is a group of experts who provide recommendations on preventive health services such as screenings, counseling and medications to improve the health of the nation’s population. When the Affordable Care Act was passed in 2010, the law gave new authority to the USPSTF by requiring payers to fully cover preventive services at Panel A or B rates.
The expert group has not met in over a year. They were supposed to meet last July, but Kennedy canceled the sessiongiving members just four days’ notice and no explanation as to why the meeting could not take place.
The two newly ousted members are John Wong, 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’s oversight of the USPSTF, according to a letter obtained this week by the New York Times.
Provider groups say 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 layoffs, according to a statement released Wednesday by President Bobby Mukkamala.
“Today’s changes were announced by the previous 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, particularly clinicians with expertise in preventive medicine and primary care. We also implore HHS to commit to once again holding regular meetings of the task force to ensure that its important work can continue without further delay. The lives of our patients depend on it,” read Mukkamala’s press release.
Health Services Research Organization AcademyHealth also criticized the move, saying that removing USPSTF leadership without a transparent explanation risks disrupting the group’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 seats, the free preventative services that millions of Americans rely on could be compromised, delayed or canceled,” the organization said in a statement. statement.
This is not the first time Kennedy has clashed with the panel. Last summer, reports have emerged that he wanted to fire everyone in the USPSTF because their views were too “woke.”
Photographer: Eric Lee/Bloomberg via Getty Images
