UPDATE 2-US Health Secretary Kennedy fires heads of key preventive health panel

U.S. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. fired the chair and vice chair of the influential task force that decides what preventive medical care ‌should be provided at no cost to patients, according to letters sent earlier this month and seen by Reuters on Wednesday. The Preventive Services Task Force, which typically has 16 members, last met over a year ago after Kennedy canceled its regularly scheduled meetings. New members have not been named to replace the ‌five volunteers whose terms expired in December.

Panel chair Dr. John Wong, professor of medicine at Tufts University School of Medicine, and vice chair ‌Dr. Esa Davis, professor at the University of Maryland School of Medicine, were removed from the panel, according to the letters dated May 11. An official for the Department of Health and Human Services, run by Kennedy, confirmed the firings. Wong's term was due to end in March 2027, while Davis' was set to conclude in March 2028.

Kennedy's letters say the terminations ⁠were "administrative in nature" ​and applications for a seat on ⁠the volunteer panel are open through May 23. Wong said in an email that both he and Davis had reapplied to be members of the task force "with trepidation around the validity of ⁠the process." Davis did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

HHS said last month it was seeking clinicians and researchers to be nominated to the task ​force "including but not limited to" specialties such as cardiology, oncology, obstetrics/gynecology, pediatrics, family medicine and health economics. HHS did not respond to a request for ⁠comment on Wednesday on whether the eight remaining panel members would be dismissed.

Medical experts say Kennedy's sidelining of the panel has delayed updates to screening guidelines for cancer, heart disease and other ⁠conditions. In ​the correspondence, Kennedy says HHS aims to implement "standard operating procedures" at the task force and protect its long-term credibility.

Though traditionally made up of an independent group of volunteer experts, members are selected by the health secretary without Senate confirmation, and it relies on support from the department's Agency ⁠for Healthcare Research and Quality. Kennedy's authority over the panel was affirmed by a Supreme Court decision last June that maintained preventive care coverage requirements and ⁠made clear that the Secretary can review ⁠the task force's recommendations.

A group of 104 health organizations, including the influential American Medical Association and the American Academy of Pediatrics, last July sent a letter to Congressional health committees, urging them "to protect the integrity" of the task ‌force. The preventive care panel ‌has been criticized by some conservatives as too left-leaning.

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