In this edition of the Situation Report, we provide updates on continued threats to the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) and prompt urgent action from AcademyHealth and our partners as HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. considers dismissing its members. Meanwhile, researchers are adapting and responding to terminated federal grants and we feature resources for applying this to your own work. We also cover a new strategy from CMS to modernize health data sharing through voluntary industry commitments, and hidden changes in the latest tax bill may jeopardize Medicare Savings Programs for nearly a million low-income seniors. As the political landscape continues to shift, we’re doubling down on our commitment to evidence-informed policy. If your work has been affected by missing or inaccessible health data, we want to hear from you. Submit your story by August 8.
In today’s issue:
- AcademyHealth Continues the Fight to Protect Critical Task Force
- When Federal Funding Disappears: A Survival Guide for Researchers
- CMS Secures Industry Commitments to Accessible, Connected Health Care Data
- Added Administrative Requirements for Medicare Benefits Could Impact Millions
- Has Missing Health Data Disrupted Your Research? Share Your Story.
AcademyHealth Continues the Fight to Protect Critical Task Force
More reports have emerged that HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. may move to dismiss all 16 members of the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF), a panel that for four decades has issued evidence‑based recommendations for preventive health services, including cancer and depression screenings now covered by insurance. AcademyHealth and other evidence-based policy advocates have been closely monitoring the situation since the Kennedy v Braidwood ruling and the sudden cancellation of a routine USPSTF meeting earlier this month. In response to these concerning developments, AcademyHealth and the Friends of AHRQ, along with more than 100 partnering health organizations, sent a letter urging Secretary Kennedy to retain the existing USPSTF members and continue regular meetings, emphasizing the panel’s crucial role in guiding nonpartisan, evidence‑based preventive care. AcademyHealth continues to lead the charge in defense of the Task Force and evidence-informed policy, meeting with Congressional representatives, holding regular town halls, and keeping members updated through the Situation Reports.
Want to support the Task Force? There are several ways you can help:
- Call your Congressional members and tell them to advocate for the preservation of the Task Force as a non-partisan, rigorously vetted panel of qualified experts
- Donate to AcademyHealth to help us expand our advocacy capacity as we continue to fight for the Task Force
- Stay informed by following our Situation Reports and blog posts
AcademyHealth remains firmly committed to our priorities of promoting robust research funding and evidence implementation, advancing data and innovation to improve health outcomes, and strengthening evidence-based policy decision-making. The Task Force embodies these priorities, and we will continue to champion its role in evidence-informed health policy.
When Federal Funding Disappears: A Survival Guide for Researchers
A July Nature article spotlights how researchers are adapting amid a flurry of federal grant terminations, especially among projects with DEI components. The story features Dr. Briana Mezuk, an epidemiologist whose $12.9 million NIH grant focused on how systemic inequities affect aging and health outcomes across different populations. Drawing from the National Survey of American Life, the only nationally representative of the mental health of Black Americans, this longitudinal study was shaping up to provide valuable insights as to why Black Americans are twice as likely to develop Alzheimer's disease compared to their white counterparts. Rather than focusing solely on the political motivations fueling terminations, the article depicts how this epidemiologist and other researchers across the nation are adapting to find ways to preserve momentum and sustain their work. In the case of Dr. Mezuk, her work was reinstated in June after she pulled together a detailed appeal defending the study and received guidance to remove participant survey questions about experiences of discrimination.
Across the research community, many investigators are in similar positions trying to find new ways to secure funding and build work that is resilient to political disruptions in the current climate. While it can be frustrating to pivot, researchers are grounding themselves in their roots of innovative thinking and problem solving to identify strategies to persevere.
Struggling with your own funding terminations? Consider the following strategies other researchers are using to adapt:
- File formal appeals or legal challenges to contest terminated federal grants
- Explore sources of philanthropic of institutional funding to bridge funding to sustain staff and core activities
- Use crowdfunding platforms like GoFundMe to support community-based studies
- Reconfigure studies into modular components that can be continued in phases or scaled back without losing overall impact
- Archive data and preserve research infrastructure to enable future restart or reapplication
CMS Secures Industry Commitments to Accessible, Connected Health Care Data
CMS plans to announce voluntary commitments from the health care industry to make patient data more accessible to doctors, patients, and others involved in treatment, and to speed its delivery between patients and clinicians. This is the most recent effort by the Trump administration to secure commitments to change from the industry without engaging in lengthy rulemaking or guidance processes. For example, in June, health insurers agreed to use technology to speed up prior authorizations for medical services.
The agreements come on the heels of feedback from patients, doctors, payers, and technologists on modernizing America’s digital health infrastructure, where fax machines continue to be used for exchanging patient information and information sharing remains cumbersome. The draft document announcing these commitments notes priorities for the health system, including developing safe patient apps, building quicker technological infrastructure, and streamlining risk. Specifics within these priorities include requirements that electronic health record platforms be able to receive data from a patient app to increase data exchange between patients and the larger health system and that manual check-in forms be replaced with more digitally forward patient onboarding processes. Data networks must make data accessible using an open standard known as Fast Healthcare Interoperability Resources by July 4, 2026. Finally, to address risks of leaked or misused patient information, CMS is creating a directory of validated and active providers in its networks and is asking members of its ecosystem to use digital credentialing, such as AAL2, to authenticate providers and patients seeking information.
With these commitments focus on making data more accessible to providers and patients, there is hope that better integrated data systems could provide higher quality health care data, with richer connections and less missingness, particularly for researchers and policymakers who rely on these data.
Added Administrative Requirements for Medicare Benefits Could Impact Millions
Medicare Savings Programs subsidize Medicare coverage for millions of older Americans, freeing up hundreds of dollars per month for basic necessities such as rent and eliminating a cost barrier for people seeking medical care or prescriptions. The Trump administration’s new tax bill reintroduces administrative hoops to Medicare Savings Programs that may leave many vulnerable adults without coverage or straining financially and physically until they successfully navigate new restrictions. A 2023 rule, created by the Biden administration, reduced the administrative burden of signing up for Medicaid Savings Programs. For example, the rule allowed people who receive Supplemental Security Income from Social Security to be automatically enrolled and allowed people to ‘self-attest,’ or estimate the value of their assets that affect their eligibility. The government estimates 860,000 people who are eligible for Medicare Savings Program would have to re-enroll under the final rule, amounting to $66 billion in estimated savings over 10 years. Skeptics believe many current provisions allow abuse of the programs; however, experts hold that the programs are actually underutilized. Although the new rule does not eliminate the Medicare Savings Programs altogether, the increased administrative requirements could cause some people to fall through the cracks, people with low incomes who rely on these programs to stay healthy and alive.
Given the immensity of the Trump administration’s new tax bill, changes such as this one that impact the Medicare Savings Programs run the risk of flying under the radar. Health services researchers hold a unique responsibility to continue researching the new bill’s myriad impacts on health and amplifying their findings to diverse audiences including those directly impacted.
Has Missing Health Data Disrupted Your Research? Share Your Story.
AcademyHealth is part of a federal lawsuit aimed at restoring public health datasets that were removed earlier this year. While our legal case is strong, we need your help to demonstrate the real-world consequences of these losses.
Have changes or removals to key datasets, including PRAMS, HIV, diabetes, mental health, or LGBTQIA+ health data, hindered our research or affected your ability to serve communities? If so, we want to hear from you.
Submit your story by August 8 to help us show the tangible impact on health services research and strengthen the case for restoring these critical data resources.
How to share your experience:
- Fill out this brief submission form here.
- Or email Kristin Rosengren, Chief Strategy Officer, at Kristin.Rosengren@academyhealth.org.
Previous Updates
This is the latest in a series of Situation Report updates from AcademyHealth. You can find prior issues here.
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