ACP: New appointees to U.S. Preventive Services Task Force must operate in an evidence-based manner free from political interference

Statement attributable to:
Jan K. Carney, MD, MPH, MACP
President, American College of Physicians

WASHINGTON, September 18, 2026- Recommendations of the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force are critical to ensuring our patients receive preventive services based on the best possible scientific evidence. Unfortunately, the task force has already been upended by the firing of the panel's chair and vice chair, who are typically involved in the new member selection process, and prevented from meeting for more than a year. The American College of Physicians (ACP) is therefore concerned by the announcement that eight new members have been appointed to the USPSTF and how these appointments may impact the work of the task force.

Additionally, the task force has historically been made up of primary care clinicians and those with expertise in preventive medicine and public health and who were selected via a highly predictable, rolling schedule for nominations and onboarding.Primary care physicians, like general internal medicine specialists, are responsible for advising their patients on many of the USPSTF recommendations and their input is vital to the task force's expertise. It is imperative that any new members of our country's important public health bodies be chosen in a transparent way; vetted for their competency in evidence review, critical appraisal of research, and the application of evidence-based medicine. They must be permitted to conduct their work in a scientifically independent manner.

ACP calls on this newly reconstituted task force to conduct its decision-making grounded in evidence-based and science-backed medicine, free from political interference.

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About the American College of Physicians

The American College of Physicians is the largest medical specialty organization in the United States with members in more than 172 countries worldwide. ACP membership includes 163,000 internal medicine physicians, related subspecialists, and medical students. Internal medicine physicians are specialists who apply scientific knowledge and clinical expertise to the diagnosis, treatment, and compassionate care of adults across the spectrum from health to complex illness. Follow ACP on X, Facebook, Instagram, Threads and LinkedIn, and subscribe to our new RSS feed.

Contact: Jacquelyn Blaser, (202) 261-4572, [email protected]