Former USPSTF members raise concerns with HHS reorganization

More than 40 former chairs, members and scientific directors of the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force urged Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to protect the USPSTF’s ability to improve people’s health through primary care services. They caution the reorganization of the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality could damage the task force’s ability to help prevent chronic disease through primary care services. They note a workforce reduction at AHRQ could prevent USPSTF from effectively completing its work and reaching the primary care clinicians who use their recommendations. They note USPSTF recommendations have “saved hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of lives.” (MedPage Today article, 4/15/25)