The American Medical Affiliation is urging Well being Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to not oust members of the U.S. Preventive Companies Job Pressure, a gaggle of consultants centered on main care.
MARY LOUISE KELLY, HOST:
The U.S. Preventive Companies Job Pressure units tips for main care clinicians. Earlier this month, Well being and Human Companies Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. canceled a gathering the group had on the books. Now medical teams are afraid he might overhaul it altogether. NPR’s Pien Huang has extra.
PIEN HUANG, BYLINE: Dr. Bobby Mukkamala is president of the American Medical Affiliation.
BOBBY MUKKAMALA: It is very regarding, and it isn’t the primary time we have been involved.
HUANG: He says, final month, Kennedy dismissed the members of a unique advisory committee, one on vaccines for the CDC, and changed them together with his personal picks, who largely lacked the experience in vaccines and immunology the members usually have. Mukkamala worries the identical might occur right here with the impartial group of consultants that target main care.
MUKKAMALA: When you’ve gotten one thing good and you do not know if it is going to get replaced with one thing good, it is only a danger that no person ought to take.
HUANG: The plan was first reported in The Wall Avenue Journal. The U.S. Preventive Companies Job Pressure is a gaggle of impartial consultants that serve 4 years at a time. They reviewed information and made suggestions for stopping all types of ailments since 1984. Most not too long ago, what they advocate tends to be lined by medical health insurance. Dr. Alex Krist is a household doctor at Virginia Commonwealth College and a former chair of the duty drive.
ALEX KRIST: In all probability each affected person I see, I am utilizing about 5 to twenty of their tips to ensure that I am preserving that individual wholesome.
HUANG: That features on matters like…
KRIST: Mammograms for screening for breast most cancers, colonoscopies for colon most cancers, screening and managing hypertension.
HUANG: Diabetes, weight problems, stopping falls – the checklist goes on. The American Medical Affiliation, together with over 100 different well being organizations, have despatched a letter to members of Congress urging them to guard and protect the integrity of this group. In any other case, they are saying, main care medical doctors might lose belief within the tips. And the outcomes might be devastating for sufferers, hospital methods and payers. HHS didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark.
Pien Huang, NPR Information.
Copyright © 2025 NPR. All rights reserved. Go to our web site phrases of use and permissions pages at www.npr.org for additional data.
Accuracy and availability of NPR transcripts might range. Transcript textual content could also be revised to right errors or match updates to audio. Audio on npr.org could also be edited after its unique broadcast or publication. The authoritative document of NPR’s programming is the audio document.