HHS opens nominations to restart stalled preventive care task force

HHS opened nominations for the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force, a move aimed at reviving a panel that has been largely frozen for more than a year and whose recommendations determine whether patients get key preventive care without cost sharing.

The department asked on Tuesday for clinicians and researchers to apply to the 16-member volunteer panel, which advises on screenings, counseling and preventive medications. Nominations are due electronically by May 23, 2026, with appointments expected to begin in June. A public-inspection copy says invited members are anticipated to start in July.

The opening comes after the task force missed three planned meetings, had not met for more than a year, and lost five members when their terms expired in December without replacements. Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who oversees HHS, told a House committee earlier this month that the task force had been “lackadaisical” and said it was not doing its job.

For patients, the dispute is not abstract. The Affordable Care Act requires most private insurance plans to cover services recommended by the task force with Grade A or B ratings without patient cost sharing. The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality says the panel’s guidance shapes care for more than 80 health conditions and diseases, including cancer, heart disease and other conditions whose screening recommendations have been delayed by the slowdown.

The task force was created in 1984 as an independent volunteer group of national experts in prevention and evidence-based medicine. AHRQ says members normally meet three times a year for two days in the Washington, D.C., area, with additional work handled by conference calls and email. The current call for nominations seeks a wide mix of specialties, including anesthesiology and pain management, cardiology, endocrinology, family medicine, gastroenterology, hematology and oncology, internal medicine, obstetrics and gynecology, pediatrics, preventive medicine, radiology and health economics.

The reopening also lands after the Supreme Court’s June 27, 2025 decision in Kennedy v. Braidwood Management upheld the preventive-services framework, preserving no-cost coverage for USPSTF-recommended care for now. The American Medical Association said that provision helps about 100 million privately insured Americans access care without paying out of pocket and has been credited with saving 100,000 U.S. lives each year.

Medical groups warned during the 2025 disruptions that the panel’s work should remain nonpartisan and stable. More than 100 organizations later urged Congress to protect it after one meeting was canceled. Whether the new nominations restore routine operations or open the door to a broader reshaping of preventive health guidance will shape screenings, insurance coverage and routine care for millions.