AMA Calls on Kennedy Not to Remove Preventive Care Task Force Members

The American Medical Association (AMA) on Sunday, July 27, expressed “deep concern” directly to U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy about news reports that he intends to remove all members of the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF).

“USPSTF plays a critical, non-partisan role in guiding physicians’ efforts to prevent disease and improve the health of patients by helping to ensure access to evidence-based clinical preventive services,” the AMA said in its letter. “As such, we urge you to retain the previously appointed members of the USPSTF and commit to the long-standing process of regular meetings to ensure their important work can continue without interruption.”

A press release posted to the association’s website on Sunday, provided the full text of the letter, sent under the signature of John Whyte, M.D., M.P.H., the AMA’s CEO and executive vice president:

“Dear Secretary Kennedy,

On behalf of the physician and medical student members of the American Medical Association (AMA), I am writing to express our deep concern with the recent reports of your intention to remove all of the members of the United States Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF). As you know, USPSTF plays a critical, non-partisan role in guiding physicians’ efforts to prevent disease and improve the health of patients by helping to ensure access to evidence-based clinical preventive services. As such, we urge you to retain the previously appointed members of the USPSTF and commit to the long-standing process of regular meetings to ensure their important work can continue without interruption.

The USPSTF has long played an essential role in making evidence-based recommendations for clinical prevention of disease. USPSTF members have been selected through an open, public nomination process and are nationally recognized experts in primary care, prevention and evidence-based medicine. They serve on a volunteer basis, dedicating their time to help reduce disease and improve the health of all Americans—a mission well-aligned with the Make America Healthy Again initiative.

Importantly, the USPSTF puts forth recommendations that dictate coverage policy for health insurers nationwide. By law, insurers must cover USPSTF-recommended services without cost sharing. This means that patients have access to services such as screenings for colon, breast, and lung cancer; screenings for anxiety and depression in children; and screenings and preventive services for cardiovascular disease. Access to these services without cost sharing plays a critical role in keeping patients healthy and reducing the burdens of disease.

The most important role physicians play is improving the health of patients. Given the essential role USPSTF members play in weighing the benefits and harms of preventive services such as screenings, behavioral counseling, and preventive medications, and making evidence-based recommendations for implementation in primary care settings, we urge you to keep the previously appointed USPSTF members and continue the task force’s regular meeting schedule to ensure recommendations are put forth, updated, and disseminated without delay."

The AMA leaders were prompted to contact Secretary Kennedy after the publication on Wednesday, July 25, by Liz Essley Whyte of the Wall Street Journal, under the headline, “RFK  Jr. to Oust Advisory Panel on Cancer Screenings, HIV Prevention Drugs.” Essley Whyte wrote on Wednesday that “Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is planning to remove all the members of an advisory panel that determines what cancer screenings and other preventive health measures insurers must cover, people familiar with the matter said. Kennedy plans to dismiss all 16 panel members of the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force because he views them as too ‘woke,’ the people said. The White House has made a priority of targeting initiatives that promote diversity equity and inclusion, or DEI, in everything from artificial intelligence to health research grants.”

Essley Whyte noted that “The task force has advised the federal government on preventive health matters since 1984. The Affordable Care Act in 2010 gave it the power to determine which screenings, counseling and preventive medications most insurers are required to cover at no cost to patients. The group, made up of volunteers with medical expertise who are vetted for conflicts of interest, combs through scientific evidence to determine which interventions are proven to work. The Supreme Court decided a case in June that originally focused on a task-force recommendation to cover certain HIV-prevention drugs. The employer plaintiffs had successfully argued previously that requiring them to cover such drugs for employees violated their religious rights. The group also argued that the task-force members weren’t properly appointed. The high court ruled that the task- force appointments were constitutional, while highlighting that the Health and Human Services Secretary has the authority to remove the members of the panel at will.”

And, she noted, “A recent essay in The American Conservative magazine called for the removal of the task-force members, arguing that it had embedded “left-wing ideological orthodoxy” in all of its efforts. The essay pointed to the task force highlighting racial discrimination when discussing risk factors for anxiety in older children and teenagers, as well as the task force’s use of terms such as “pregnant persons.” The task force mentioned the “lasting psychological impact and stigma of enslaved Black women being forced to act as wet nurses” in an April publication on breast-feeding, the essay noted. HHS didn’t offer details on the secretary’s plans for, or views on, the task force.” And she quoted “a spokeswoman for the Secretary” as stating  in response to her inquiry that “The Secretary looks forward to working with the USPSTF to improve public health.”

IDSA weighs in

The AMA is not the only healthcare association that has expressed concern over this situation. On Monday, July 28, leaders of the Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA), the leading national association of leaders in infectious diseases medical care, issued a statement, attributed to their president, Tina Tan, M.D., FIDSA, FPIDS, FAAP.

Dr. Tan stated that “Reports that Secretary Kennedy intends to dismiss all members of the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force are concerning. It is critical that the USPSTF continue to operate free of political interference and that its members have relevant expertise and rely on the best available scientific data to make recommendations.  USPSTF recommendations provide critical guidance for patient and clinician decision-making and insurance coverage for a wide range of vital preventive health services, including prevention and screening for HIV and screening for hepatitis B and C, sexually transmitted infections and conditions like cancer and type 2 diabetes that place patients at significantly greater risk for secondary infections. Expanded access to these preventive services saves millions of lives and reduces health care costs associated with late diagnoses.”

Indeed, Tan said, “Recent increases in the rates of certain STIs — especially including congenital syphilis in infants — as well as new cases of HIV and viral hepatitis fueled in part by the opioid epidemic and more difficult to access health care, underscore that our nation must significantly deepen its commitment to preventive health care, not undermine it.”

This is a developing story. Healthcare Innovation will provide updates as new developments emerge.