The overhaul of the US Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) by Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has delayed an important update that would have highlighted new, encouraging evidence on helping children quit tobacco, according to Dr. Michael Silverstein, a recently departed member of the group.

Since March 2025, the Trump administration has postponed or canceled all USPSTF meetings, effectively preventing the task force from issuing binding recommendations for over a year. This suspension has stalled progress on 14 health topics under review, including cervical cancer screening, perinatal depression, and autism screening.

The USPSTF, established during the Reagan administration, plays a critical role in preventive health care, with its recommendations linked to insurance coverage under the Affordable Care Act (ACA). Dr. Silverstein, who served on the task force from 2016 until March 2025, emphasized the significance of the stalled tobacco cessation update: “There was a lot of new, very encouraging evidence on tobacco cessation for kids. We’re talking about children and tobacco – I can’t imagine there’s anything controversial about that.”

Emily Hilliard, senior press secretary for the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), stated that the July USPSTF meeting was postponed until late August due to an unprecedented number of nominations for task force membership, allowing more time for selection and onboarding of new members.

The delay follows a 2025 Supreme Court ruling affirming Kennedy’s authority to appoint and remove task force members. Critics, including Dr. Aaron E. Carroll, president and CEO of AcademyHealth, a non-partisan health policy research group, have expressed concern over the prolonged lack of recommendations. Carroll noted, “Republican and Democratic administrations, including the previous Trump administration, were not like this. The fact we can’t get answers to the most basic of questions after a full year is staggering.”

Additional disruptions include the shutdown of the CDC’s office on smoking and health for over a year and the discontinuation last year of the 14-year-old ad campaign “Tips from Former Smokers.” Meanwhile, lobbying efforts continue, with Guardant Health spending $241,000 in early 2026 lobbying the Agency for Healthcare Quality and Research (AHRQ), which supports the task force.

Sources