Robert F Kennedy Jr, the US health secretary, has publicly advocated for improved Alzheimer’s screening and criticized the US Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) for being slow to act on the issue. However, the same panel has been prevented from convening since March 2025, according to reporting on the Trump administration’s actions.
The USPSTF is a group of volunteer experts who assess preventive health services and make recommendations that influence insurance coverage decisions. The panel had planned to issue guidance on cognitive decline screening this year alongside recommendations on 13 other health topics. The Trump administration has blocked the panel from meeting, fired two of its chairs through a political appointee, and has not filled multiple vacancies on the 16-member panel, with at least eight open positions reported at the time of Kennedy’s April congressional testimony.
Experts say the USPSTF’s role is significant beyond direct recommendations. According to John Ruiz, a clinical psychology professor at the University of Arizona and recent panel member, the taskforce’s draft recommendations are open for public comment and typically receive substantial input from research communities that informs future studies. Researchers working on Alzheimer’s disease have reported their work has been slowed by broader health department policies, including funding disruptions that forced some research centers to redirect philanthropic resources to keep clinics operational.
Kennedy has promoted blood biomarker tests for detecting Alzheimer’s biomarkers, with some researchers suggesting he may be referring to a P-Tau217 test approved in the previous year. However, experts including Ann D Cohen, co-director of the University of Pittsburgh Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center, have urged caution about broad deployment of these tests, noting they have diagnostic but not prognostic value and may produce false-positive results in real-world settings. The distinction between developing new screening tools and implementing them widely—typically a USPSTF consideration—remains a key policy question among researchers and health officials.
An estimated 7.4 million Americans aged 65 and older have Alzheimer’s disease, with an additional approximately 200,000 diagnosed in middle age, according to the Alzheimer’s Association. Currently, Alzheimer’s screening relies on symptom appearance followed by cognitive testing and neurological evaluation.
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