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Michael Silverstein, MD, MPH, a former chair of the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force, wrote in the Annals of Internal Medicine that AHRQ leadership blocked publication of the task force’s recommendations, including a final cervical cancer screening guideline, and that no recommendation has been published since July 2025. HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. canceled meetings, fired both vice chairs, and has since appointed eight new members.
The leadership of the federal agency that oversees the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) suppressed the group’s recommendations, according to a former task force chair, who wrote that not a single recommendation has been published since July 2025. In a commentary in the Annals of Internal Medicine, Michael Silverstein, MD, MPH, of Brown University, said the director of the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) blocked a final recommendation on cervical cancer screening in fall 2025, despite the task force having completed a draft, run a public comment period, and incorporated hundreds of comments into a final version.
Silverstein wrote that task force members were also prevented from voting on a recommendation on preventing cardiovascular disease through healthy lifestyle interventions because meetings were canceled. In a commentary reported by MedPage Today, he stated plainly: “Despite the efforts, the task force has been blocked from publishing even a single recommendation since July 2025.” The task force’s recommendations typically guide primary care providers on cancer screening, heart disease prevention, and other preventive services, and they can affect whether insurers cover those services without cost-sharing.
Silverstein described a pattern that began early in the second Trump administration, when it became clear that HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. “had a particular disdain for the task force.” After a March 2025 meeting, Kennedy canceled regular task force meetings, including those scheduled for July and November 2025. By February 2026, several former members said they feared Kennedy planned to eliminate the task force entirely; instead, he canceled the next meeting, set for March, promising it would be rescheduled.
In April, Kennedy told a House committee the task force had been “lackadaisical and negligent” for the last 20 years and said he would be “bringing new members on who have a clear mission.” In May, he fired the two vice chairs — John Wong, MD, of Tufts Medical Center, and Esa Davis, MD, MPH, of the University of Maryland — though he said they could reapply. Eight of the panel’s 16 seats were vacant at that point, largely because five members’ terms expired at the end of 2025 with no replacements appointed. The task force’s statutorily required annual report was also not issued. Earlier this month, Kennedy appointed eight new members, restoring the panel to full strength; neither fired vice chair is currently a member.
Stakes for Doctors and Insurance Coverage
The USPSTF’s recommendations carry practical weight far beyond advisory guidance. Silverstein warned that because publication has been blocked since July 2025, “primary care providers across the country may be following cancer, heart disease, or other prevention guidelines that are based on outdated evidence, and Americans are possibly being denied insurance coverage for highly effective services.” Insurers commonly link coverage of preventive services, often without patient cost-sharing, to USPSTF grades, so delays in updated recommendations can ripple directly into what patients pay for screenings and counseling.
The episode also raises questions about the independence of federal scientific advisory bodies. The American Medical Association’s president, Willie Underwood III, MD, MSc, MPH, noted in an emailed statement that the USPSTF has historically been composed of primary care doctors and preventive medicine experts, and that the new slate of members — which includes cardiologists, a gastroenterologist, a radiologist, an artificial intelligence expert, and a health insurance expert — represents a departure from that tradition.
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How the Task Force Was Sidelineed
The USPSTF is a volunteer panel of experts convened under AHRQ, an agency within the Department of Health and Human Services, that issues evidence-based recommendations on preventive services such as cancer screenings. Despite the meeting cancellations described in the commentary, Silverstein wrote that the volunteer members continued to meet virtually on a regular weekly schedule to carry out their work.
The timeline, as Silverstein recounts it: the task force met in March 2025; Kennedy canceled subsequent meetings including July and November 2025; the cervical cancer screening recommendation was blocked in fall 2025; five members’ terms expired at the end of 2025 without replacements; the vice chairs were fired in May 2026; and eight new members were appointed earlier this month, bringing the panel back to 16 members.
“Primary care providers across the country may be following cancer, heart disease, or other prevention guidelines that are based on outdated evidence, and Americans are possibly being denied insurance coverage for highly effective services.”
— Michael Silverstein, MD, MPH
Unanswered Questions About the Allegations
The account of the suppressed recommendations comes primarily from Silverstein’s first-person commentary, which attributes the block to the AHRQ director and ties the broader pattern to Kennedy’s leadership. AHRQ and HHS have not, in the material reported, publicly responded to the specific allegation that the cervical cancer screening recommendation was blocked. It is not clear whether the completed final recommendation on cervical cancer screening will be published, when the task force will resume issuing recommendations, or how quickly the newly appointed members will operate.
The full impact on clinical practice and insurance coverage is also uncertain — Silverstein says providers “may be” using outdated guidelines and patients are “possibly” being denied coverage, but the extent of either effect has not been quantified.
Outlook for the Rebuilt Panel
With eight new members appointed and the panel back to full strength, attention turns to whether the task force will resume its normal cycle of draft recommendations, public comment periods, and final publications. Key questions include whether the cervical cancer screening recommendation and the cardiovascular disease prevention recommendation will be revisited, whether the canceled meetings will be rescheduled as Kennedy promised, and whether the statutorily required annual report will be issued. Neither of the fired vice chairs, Wong or Davis, is currently a member, though Kennedy said they could reapply. Watch also for any formal response from AHRQ or HHS to Silverstein’s allegations.
Key Questions
What is the USPSTF and what does it do?
The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force is a volunteer expert panel overseen by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality that issues evidence-based recommendations on preventive services such as cancer screenings and lifestyle counseling. Its grades often influence what preventive services insurers cover without cost-sharing.
What exactly did the former chair allege?
Michael Silverstein, MD, MPH, wrote in the Annals of Internal Medicine that the AHRQ director blocked a final cervical cancer screening recommendation in fall 2025, that canceled meetings prevented a vote on a cardiovascular prevention recommendation, and that no task force recommendation has been published since July 2025.
How might this affect patients?
According to Silverstein, primary care providers may be following prevention guidelines based on outdated evidence, and Americans are possibly being denied insurance coverage for highly effective preventive services. The extent of these effects has not been quantified.
What did Secretary Kennedy do to the task force?
According to the commentary, Kennedy canceled regular meetings after March 2025, criticized the panel before a House committee in April, fired both vice chairs in May 2026, and appointed eight new members earlier this month, restoring the panel to full strength.
Has HHS or AHRQ responded to the allegations?
No public response from AHRQ or HHS to the specific allegation that the cervical cancer screening recommendation was blocked appears in the reported material. It remains unclear whether the blocked recommendation will be published.
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