RFK Jr. Fired the Two Chairs of the USPSTF in May. Eight Members Remain, Six Seats Are Vacant.

Since our last reporting on RFK Jr.'s cancellation of four consecutive USPSTF meetings, additional facts have come into view about the structural damage to the panel itself.

Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. sent termination letters to USPSTF co-chairs Dr. Esa Davis and Dr. John Wong on May 11, ending their appointments before their multiyear terms expired, according to letters obtained by NOTUS. The Guardian also reported the firings, noting the letters were first disclosed by the New York Times.

Kennedy's stated reason: not performance. He wrote that the early terminations were meant "to help protect the Task Force and preserve confidence in the continuity and durability of its work." He praised both doctors' "leadership, contributions and expertise" and encouraged them to reapply for their own jobs.

What the USPSTF Actually Does

The panel matters because its recommendations carry legal weight. Under the Affordable Care Act, most insurance plans must cover preventive services graded "A" or "B" by the task force without charging patients a co-pay. That covers mammograms, colonoscopies, depression screenings, cervical cancer screenings, statin use for heart disease prevention, and more. The 16-member panel of volunteer physicians and researchers reviews scientific evidence and issues those grades.

The panel has been operating since the 1980s. Members serve four-year staggered terms. The head of the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality — currently Roger Klein, a molecular pathologist and attorney — selects members in consultation with the panel's chairs. With no chairs, that consultation mechanism is gone. As one source familiar with the panel's work told NOTUS: "He now has consolidated power and there are no chairs to consult with."

Membership Status

The firings didn't happen in isolation. Six members had already rolled off the task force naturally over the past six months, including a third chair, according to NOTUS. Kennedy has not nominated replacements for any of them. Davis and Wong's removals bring the active membership to eight. Half the full panel of 16.

HHS has been soliciting new member nominations, with a deadline that passed this past Saturday. Kennedy told Congress in April he would appoint members "with a clear mission" but did not specify what that means, according to The Guardian.

Kennedy's Criticism of the Panel

Kennedy called the task force "lackadaisical and negligent" in congressional testimony without providing specifics, according to NOTUS. He later told lawmakers he was reforming it so it would meet more frequently and, in his words, "have, for the first time, transparency," as reported by The Guardian.

That "transparency" framing drew a direct rebuttal from former task force chair Dr. Michael Silverstein, a pediatrician, who told The Guardian: "This is a level of government intrusion into scientific processes that I've not experienced in my 10 years on the taskforce." Silverstein noted that the panel already holds public meetings, opens draft guidelines to public comment, and publishes the underlying science behind every recommendation.

The Strongest Case for What Kennedy Is Doing

The fairest version of Kennedy's argument is that the USPSTF, while technically independent, operates within HHS and should reflect accountable, confirmed leadership. Critics of the panel's structure have long argued that expert panels composed of unelected volunteers can calcify around institutional consensus and resist reviewing evidence that challenges standing recommendations. Kennedy's stated goal of more frequent meetings and clearer oversight is not inherently unreasonable on its face. It is accurate that the secretary has authority over appointments.

The problem is that Kennedy has not replaced departed members, has canceled every scheduled meeting since taking office, and blocked the panel from publishing a finalized cervical cancer screening update, according to The Guardian. The net effect, whatever the stated goal, has been to freeze the panel's output entirely.

What's Stalled

The practical consequences are measurable. Dr. Silverstein told The Guardian that over the past year the task force was not allowed to publish its final cervical cancer screening guideline update or advance work on recommendations for maternal depression screening. Those are not abstract regulatory delays. They determine whether insurance must cover those services at no cost to patients.

HHS did not respond to requests for comment from either NOTUS or The Guardian on why Davis and Wong were specifically terminated.

Who Kennedy appoints after the Saturday nomination deadline closes is now the key question. His previous move with a vaccine advisory committee, replacing expert members with political appointees, is the template health advocates are watching. Whether the reconstituted USPSTF, if one ever assembles, produces recommendations that clear the same evidentiary bar as the prior panel's work is something federal courts may eventually have to assess, particularly given the ongoing legal fight over his vaccine advisory overhaul.