By Jacqueline Howard, Tami Luhby, CNN
(CNN) — An independent panel of medical experts that shapes preventive care for patients in the United States will not hold its regular meeting this month, marking one year since its members last gathered.
Now there’s growing concern that the US Department of Health and Human Services is abandoning the US Preventive Services Task Force – or pushing it into “quiet paralysis.”
Ordinarily, the task force meets three times a year – in March, July and November – but it has not met since March 2025. HHS spokesperson Andrew Nixon said in an email Tuesday that the task force’s first meeting of the year was postponed and “will be rescheduled in the coming months.”
The USPSTF is responsible for recommendations around cancer screenings, STI testing, counseling and other types of preventive care. Postponing meetings may delay updates to recommendations that guide patient care and insurance coverage.
Some doctors worry that this could be a sign that HHS plans to dismantle the longtime group altogether, similar to how other federal advisory groups have been restructured.
“I do worry that they could eliminate it, but I worry less about a dramatic announcement and more about quiet paralysis,” said Dr. Aaron Carroll, a pediatrician and CEO of the nonprofit AcademyHealth, a national organization for health services and policy researchers.
“The USPSTF was created in statute, so eliminating it theoretically would take congressional action, but you can still undermine it in so many ways that matter to patients and clinicians,” Carroll said. “You can slow appointments, delay the work, change the standards or reduce the staff capacity that produces the rigorous reviews.”
He added that this “quiet paralysis” appears to be happening now.
The USPSTF, established in 1984, is a national panel of 16 volunteers who issue evidence-based recommendations about preventive health services.
But “five of the 16 members’ terms ended on January 1. They have not been replaced,” Carroll said. According to the USPSTF, new members are selected by the HHS secretary.
The task force’s recommendations on clinical services guide doctors and inform insurance coverage, too. Its recommendations are given grades, and the Affordable Care Act requires that insurers cover prevention services that get an A or B grade from the group at no cost to patients.
“That’s why millions and millions of Americans can get services like colorectal screening or statin prevention without a copay,” Carroll said.
Since 1998, Congress has directed the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) to convene and support the task force. Each year, the task force submits a report to Congress outlining gaps in rese