40th Anniversary Timeline

USPSTF 40th anniversary logo

Celebrating 40 Years of Prevention Guidance

For 40 years, the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF or Task Force) has improved the health of people nationwide by making evidence-based recommendations on preventive services. Clinicians, healthcare professionals, patients, families, and communities all look to the Task Force to help them know what works and what doesn’t in preventive care.
Join us as we celebrate 40 years of this important work!

1980s

1984
Task Force first convened by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).
1989
First Guide to Clinical Preventive Services published; Task Force invites experts from the scientific community to provide input for the inaugural Guide.
people laughing together

1990s

1990
HHS convenes the second Task Force.
1998

Congress gives authority to the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) to provide administrative, research, technical, and dissemination support to the Task Force in the 1998 Public Health Service Act [PDF].

Third Task Force convened and established continuous operations.

mother and daughter using a computer together

2000s

2001
Task Force leads the establishment of methods to develop evidence-based guidelines and creates a systematic process aligning with evolving evidence-based principles.
2005
Task Force solidifies partnerships with national primary care and patient advocacy groups, Federal agencies, and other partners to help inform and disseminate the work of the Task Force.
2006
Task Force launches the Electronic Preventive Services Selector (ePSS), which is now called Prevention TaskForce, an application tool to assist primary care clinicians with current recommendations on preventive services. Two years after Prevention TaskForce was created, it became the first app (on iOS) from a federal agency and popular among health and medical apps.
2008
Task Force recommendations are integrated into the Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion’s MyHealthfinder platform, a resource to help patients and families stay healthy.
2009
To further its commitment to transparency, the Task Force began to pilot a public comment process on draft materials, which grew to include 4-week comment periods for all draft research plans, recommendation statements, and evidence reviews.
diverse group of people smiling doctor speaking with a patient

2010s

2010
Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act reinforces AHRQ’s support of and the importance of the Task Force and connects Task Force recommendations to coverage requirements.
2011

Task Force issues its first annual Report to Congress.

Institute of Medicine (now National Academy of Medicine) issues report “Clinical Practice Guidelines We Can Trust,” identifying the USPSTF as a leader and a reference standard for guideline development processes.

2015
Task Force publishes a commentary demonstrating its alignment with the gold standards of clinical practice guideline development and clarifying its role in evaluating the science to identify the most effective preventive services.
2018

Task Force publishes American Journal of Preventive Medicine supplement on updated methods, reinforcing its commitment to continuously advancing its methods of making evidence-based recommendations.

Task Force evaluates its conflict-of-interest policy and publishes best practices from guideline-making bodies, demonstrating its commitment to maintaining transparent, state-of-the-art policies and procedures.

group of young people smiling mother kissing baby's head

2020s

2020
Task Force rebrands and redesigns the ePSS application to Prevention TaskForce. Key features of the redesign include a streamlined user interface, real-time data sync, and one-click access to clinical and full recommendation data.
2021
Task Force reinforces and publishes its commitment to addressing health equity in primary care.
2024
As of this year, the Task Force has recommendations on more than 88 topics.
smiling children outdoors parents with young child