Sept 17 (Reuters) – Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. named eight new members to the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force, the panel that decides which preventive medical care should be provided to patients free of charge, on Thursday.
The Preventive Services Task Force, which typically holds three annual meetings and has 16 members, last met a year ago.
Kennedy Jr. has reshaped several federal health advisory bodies, including the CDC’s vaccine advisory committee, replacing its members after dismissing the entire panel last year.
A US Supreme Court decision affirmed Kennedy Jr.’s authority over the preventive care committee last June. The panel’s November meeting following the judgment did not take place due to a government shutdown in 2025.
The US health department abruptly canceled another meeting, set for July last year. Kennedy Jr. removed the chair and vice chair of the influential task force this May.
A meeting in March was also postponed.
The US Department of Health and Human Services declined to comment on the date of the panel’s next meeting when contacted by Reuters.
The new members include pediatric hematologist-oncologist Seth Corey, pediatrician Patrick Hunter and cardiovascular expert Ronald Karlsberg. Stephen Parente, who works in health finance, has also joined the panel.
Professor of preventive cardiology Venkatesh Murthy, family medicine physician Goldie Stands-Over-Bull, Louis Wilson, a gastroenterology specialist, and Dennis Wulfeck, a diagnostic radiologist, were also named members.
The committee is responsible for deciding which medical tests and preventive services, such as routine breast cancer screening or drugs to prevent HIV infection, need to be provided at no cost under most health insurance plans.
The panel, comprising an independent group of volunteer experts, relies on support from the Department of Health and Human Services’ Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality.
(Reporting by Sriparna Roy in Bengaluru; Editing by Pooja Desai)
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