Who appoints task force members and what weight does their opinion carry?
The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force was first convened by the U.S. Public Health Service in 1984. Since 1998 it’s been sponsored by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, which is part of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The task force is an independent panel of private-sector experts in prevention and primary care. For each preventive/screening service, the task force reviews evidence, estimates risks and benefits, decides the overall benefit, and issues a recommendation. The task force is made up of primary care givers — internists, pediatricians, family physicians, gynecologists/obstetricians, and nurses. The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality asks for nominations for task force members through an open process announced in the Federal Register, an official publication for notices from federal agencies and organizations. Anyone can nominate a candidate for the task force and people can nominate themselves to be members. Members are selected base
