Former USPSTF Members Ask HHS for Protection

Dozens of former chairs, members, and scientific directors of the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) urged HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to protect its ability to improve people’s health through primary care services.

In a letter to Kennedy, they outlined two potential threats to the task force: a legal case involving insurance coverage for recommended preventive care, and the recently announced reorganization and workforce reductions at HHS.

“Since 1984 — so more than 40 years — the task force has been charged by Congress to make evidence-based, conflict-free recommendations about preventive care, and that includes everything from disease screening to behavioral counseling to preventive medications like aspirin,” Michael Barry, MD, of Harvard Medical School, who served as chair of the USPSTF from 2023 to 2024, told MedPage Today. “And we curate about 90 different preventive recommendations.”

Now, “there are really two situations that threaten what we do,” he said.

The first involves the Braidwood v. Kennedy legal case, Barry noted.

Current law says that, if USPSTF scientific evaluations give an intervention the highest “A” or “B” grade based on “evidence of net benefit to people across the country,” the intervention must be “covered by private insurers with no out-of-pocket payments,” he said. However, Braidwood v. Kennedy has challenged this connection between task force recommendations and insurance coverage.

The case has landed before the U.S. Supreme Court. At question is whether a lower court erred in holding that the structure of the USPSTF is unconstitutional.

In their letter, Barry and colleagues applauded Kennedy for defending the case. “A loss in this case may mean millions of Americans will be deprived of access to free, effective preventive care,” they wrote.

“However, we [also] want to be sure that there isn’t an unintended outcome of the newly announced reorganization of the Department of Health and Human Services, including the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), which damages the task force’s ability to help prevent chronic disease through primary care services,” they added.

Barry explained that USPSTF relies heavily on support from AHRQ to do its work effectively. “The concern we expressed was that the reorganization of the Department of Health and Human Services that’s been announced — including AHRQ — and a major reduction in force could be equally problematic for continuing to do our work without adequate support,” he said.

“We don’t know all the details of what those cuts are … but we want to express our concern that, without that AHRQ support, we will become ineffective,” he added, “and I don’t think that’s in the interest of the kind of chronic disease prevention that the secretary has been discussing.”

The USPSTF — which is comprised of 16 independent preventive medicine and primary care experts — is heavily referenced in primary care; even the report on President Trump’s annual physical exam that was released earlier this week noted the exam was performed “in accordance” with USPSTF recommendations.

In their letter, Barry and colleagues pointed to the impact the task force has had on the health of Americans.

“Over the 40 years of the Task Force’s existence, hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of lives have been saved with its often-simple, inexpensive recommendations,” including cancer screenings, they contended.

“The main risk factors for chronic diseases include things like smoking, overweight and obesity, high blood pressure, high cholesterol,” Barry said, “and we have recommendations addressing all those things for both adults and children, and adolescents.”

“So, in terms of the prevention of chronic disease, another of the secretary’s priorities, we’ve certainly been at the center of that over the years, and hope to continue,” he added.

A spokesperson for HHS said in an emailed statement that, the AHRQ, “which administered the advisory body, will now be integrated into the Office of Strategy.”

“This move is part of broader efforts to reduce redundancies, enhance effectiveness, and streamline operations across the department, ultimately improving the efficiency of HHS programs,” the spokesperson added. “The department is committed to ensuring that critical services and programs, including those that address important health priorities, continue without disruption.”