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Politico
11 hours ago
- Health
- Politico
Dems: Medicaid cuts complicate health AI dreams
WASHINGTON WATCH House Republicans and Democrats clashed during a Ways and Means Health Subcommittee hearing Wednesday over how to fund and advance the use of digital health technologies. 'We live in a time where Americans have access to better technology and more health information than ever to truly be the 'CEO of their health,'' subcommittee Chair Vern Buchanan (R-Fla.) said, noting that despite high spending on health care, Americans are getting sicker. Digital health tools and artificial intelligence are central to Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s strategy to cure chronic disease and reduce costs. But Democrats warned that the GOP's proposed Medicaid cuts in President Donald Trump's megabill could hamper the adoption of AI and other innovations in health care. 'I'm a bit in the twilight light zone. At the same time that we're here talking about this issue, my colleagues on the other side just passed a bill that would effectively take away health care for 16 million Americans,' said Rep. Steven Horsford (D-Nev.). At the heart of the disagreement is cost. 'People cannot take advantage of technological advances in health care if they do not have health insurance coverage or face insurmountable financial barriers to health care services,' said Sabrina Corlette, co-director of the Center on Health Insurance Reforms at Georgetown University. For health systems, that means less revenue to invest in innovative technologies, especially ones with no or low reimbursement rates. A few ideas that were floated: — The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services should set reimbursement rates for some digital technologies and raise the rates for technology that's already reimbursed. — Congress should expand tax-advantaged health savings accounts so Americans can use them to buy health and fitness wearables like WHOOP bands and Oura Rings. — Lawmakers should consider the impact Medicaid cuts would have on doctors' ability to implement AI. What's next: Republicans have waffled on whether to include an expansion of health savings accounts in the 'Big Beautiful Bill' because they'll add to the budget. But Senate Republicans are feeling pressure from their House counterparts to keep them in. WELCOME TO FUTURE PULSE This is where we explore the ideas and innovators shaping health care. Life science company Verily is re-upping its work on the research platform that powers All of Us, a NIH-funded, big data project that seeks to understand risk factors for disease, better treatments, and how technology can help make people healthier. The contract with Vanderbilt University Medical Center, one of the NIH's key partners on the program, is for the next five years. Share any thoughts, news, tips and feedback with Danny Nguyen at dnguyen@ Carmen Paun at cpaun@ Ruth Reader at rreader@ or Erin Schumaker at eschumaker@ Want to share a tip securely? Message us on Signal: Dannyn516.70, CarmenP.82, RuthReader.02 or ErinSchumaker.01. CONNECTING THE DOTS Federal agencies developed or used more than 2,000 artificial intelligence tools or programs in 2024, according to an analysis by POLITICO's Rosmery Izaguirre. Agencies reported that, in about 16 percent of use cases, their tools or programs posed safety concerns or had the potential to infringe on users' civil rights or rights to data or privacy. The Department of Health and Human Services reported the highest total number of AI use cases among its agencies, with four use cases presenting rights or safety concerns. The Justice Department reported the second-highest number of AI use cases, with 124 use cases presenting concerns, and the Department of Veterans Affairs reported the third-highest number of AI use cases with 145 use cases presenting concerns. The Trump administration is poised to expand AI use across federal agencies. In January, President Donald Trump issued an executive order rescinding Biden-era legislation that promoted a more cautious approach to developing and testing use cases for AI. In an April memo, the Trump administration set its own disclosure requirements for agencies using AI, repealing the previous administration's conditions. Several rules were rescinded, including those related to rights and safety reporting, but the requirement for agencies to track and report their use of AI was maintained. What's next for HHS: AI is used widely across HHS, from analyzing big public health datasets and detecting health trends to more rote tasks like summarizing documents. But not all of the departments' AI efforts are rolling out smoothly. Earlier this year, the Food and Drug Administration deployed a general-use chatbot to shorten reviews throughout the agency. But two current and two former agency employees granted anonymity to discuss sensitive internal matters told POLITICO that the bot isn't capable of meaningfully reducing review time.
Politico
15-05-2025
- Health
- Politico
RFK Jr. says HHS is already using AI
Presented by WASHINGTON WATCH Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is promising to 'do more with less' — with the help of artificial intelligence. 'The AI revolution has arrived, and we are already using these new technologies to manage health care data more efficiently and securely,' he told the House Appropriations Committee at Wednesday's hearing on the Department of Health and Human Services' budget. Kennedy said the department is recruiting top tech talent to 'transform' it into a 'central hub for AI,' and has so far hired experts from companies like technology focused government contractor Palantir, management consulting firm Booz Allen Hamilton and venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz. Still, the department also lost tech brain power as the Trump administration moves to reduce the number of federal workers, some of whom the department has had to convince to come back. A new phase: Since before he became secretary, Kennedy has talked about using AI in myriad ways, including to provide concierge care to far-flung Americans. But during this hearing, he narrowed in on AI's potential use to dramatically alter clinical trials. The Food and Drug Administration has said it would phase out animal testing for some new therapies and replace it with novel testing methods, including AI. But Kennedy thinks that AI can do even more. 'We're trying to reform Phase III studies, for example, which are the longest, the most expensive — to do a lot of those functions by AI,' he told appropriators. He reiterated that position in an afternoon hearing before the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, promising to shorten clinical trials. It's unclear what his plans would entail. President Donald Trump's top health officials have alluded to using AI to fix health care while being extremely light on details. FDA Commissioner Marty Makary recently announced plans to roll out AI at the agency, but he's been unclear about how the agency would actually use it. But Kennedy is resolute, 'We are very, very aggressively implementing AI,' he said. 'We brought very, very high-quality, caliber people from Silicon Valley.' WELCOME TO FUTURE PULSE This is where we explore the ideas and innovators shaping health care. Ben Cohen, cofounder of Ben and Jerry's ice cream, disrupted Kennedy's testimony before the Senate HELP committee to protest U.S. financial support for Israel's military amid its war with Hamas in Gaza, while also plotting cuts to Medicaid. Police charged the ice cream mogul with incommoding and released him. Share any thoughts, news, tips and feedback with Danny Nguyen at dnguyen@ Carmen Paun at cpaun@ Ruth Reader at rreader@ or Erin Schumaker at eschumaker@ Want to share a tip securely? Message us on Signal: Dannyn516.70, CarmenP.82, RuthReader.02 or ErinSchumaker.01. THE REGULATORS HHS is betting that the key to making value-based care flourish is technology. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services and the Office of the National Coordinator are seeking feedback on how the agency can give Medicare patients better access to digital tools and health data to manage their care and improve health information exchange across the industry. A request for information asks patients and caregivers, payers, providers, value-based care organizations and tech vendors about their experience accessing data and recommending, prescribing or using certain digital health tools like remote patient monitoring for health conditions. Some questions are fascinating: The questions suggest CMS could eventually put forward a proposal that gives it a larger role in facilitating the development and approval of new digital health RFI also smacks of a paper written earlier this year by Leavitt Partners' Ryan Howells, who was in the running to lead ONC. The paper suggests that ONC should certify the software through which payers, providers, and other vendors send information to one another, rather than certifying electronic health records. '[Howell's paper] has its fingerprints all over this,' said Brendan Keeler, who heads up interoperability at health consultancy HTD Health. SMALL BYTES Electronic health records giant Epic Systems is being sued — again. CureIS Healthcare, which develops software for managed care organizations, claims that Epic used anticompetitive behavior, including blocking it from receiving necessary data under the guise of a security threat, to kill off the company's business. It's the third such lawsuit to emerge in the last year and the second against Epic. A spokesperson for the EHR company said it believes in fair competition and looks forward to correcting the record in court. The legal action is part of an overall trend wherein health industry vendors fight back against electronic health record companies that, they argue, have illegitimately blocked them from accessing information they need to operate. One vendor, Real Time Medical Systems, has so far scored an early win in its lawsuit against PointClickCare. The electronic health records company must give Real Time access to its data while the case plays out.
Politico
12-05-2025
- Health
- Politico
RFK Jr.'s MAHA agenda explained
Presented by WASHINGTON WATCH President Donald Trump's plan to make huge cuts to health care programs in the coming fiscal year will get its first airing in Congress this week with a marquee witness: HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Expect Republican lawmakers to let Kennedy tout his Make America Healthy Again initiative to combat chronic disease, while Democrats hone in on the massive cuts the administration has proposed for the Department of Health and Human Services and its agencies. Look ahead: Kennedy's slated to appear twice on Wednesday, at the House Appropriations Committee in the morning and the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee in the afternoon. Cuts at HHS agencies were well underway when the Senate confirmed Kennedy to lead the health department in February. During his two confirmation hearings, Kennedy mostly dodged questions about them, saying he hadn't been briefed about the changes. He won't be able to use the same strategy now that the administration proposed a fiscal 2026 budget plan earlier this month that calls for deep cuts at HHS agencies, including the National Institutes of Health and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. If Kennedy reflects the White House position, he'll say the cuts are about reducing redundancies in cases where more than one HHS agency is performing similar tasks; punishing agencies the administration thinks underperformed during the Covid-19 pandemic, such as the NIH; and shutting down programs related to racial and gender characteristics, which it says are divisive, wasteful and unscientific. Buyer's remorse? Key Republicans have already expressed misgivings about the magnitude of the cuts Trump plans, but they'll give Kennedy a chance to talk about where he plans to spend. The budget plan calls for $500 million to tackle chronic disease through better nutrition, physical activity and reduced reliance on drugs and treatments; help people addicted to their cell phones; and improve scrutiny of food and drug safety and quality. Kennedy has already moved to ban artificial food dyes, citing evidence they're linked to attention issues in children, and to study the skyrocketing rise in autism diagnoses. Democrats will press Kennedy on whether he's trying to prove what he's long believed, in defiance of scientific consensus, that childhood vaccines are causing it. What's next? Kennedy is moving fast to implement his Make America Healthy Again plan. On May 24, a MAHA Commission that Trump created will submit an initial assessment and strategy for combating chronic disease in children, with plans to finalize it by August 12. WELCOME TO FUTURE PULSE This is where we explore the ideas and innovators shaping health care. By age 2, 40 percent of toddlers have their own tablet, a report from Common Sense Media, a nonprofit that seeks to protect kids online, says. Share any thoughts, news, tips and feedback with Danny Nguyen at dnguyen@ Carmen Paun at cpaun@ Ruth Reader at rreader@ or Erin Schumaker at eschumaker@ Want to share a tip securely? Message us on Signal: Dannyn516.70, CarmenP.82, RuthReader.02 or ErinSchumaker.01. PROBLEM SOLVERS Congress' leading proponents of exploring the use of psychedelic drugs to treat mental illness think they've found an ally in VA Secretary Doug Collins. Reps. Jack Bergman (R-Mich.) and Lou Correa (D-Calif.), who co-chair the Congressional Psychedelic Advancing Therapies Caucus, seek a meeting in light of Collins' recent promotion of the drug therapy. Since his confirmation in February, Collins has repeatedly brought up his desire to research whether psychedelics can help veterans. He has talked positively about psychedelics on a podcast appearance, on the social media platform X and at a recent Cabinet meeting when Trump pressed him on what he's doing to drive down the high suicide rate among veterans. 'We were encouraged by your recent remarks about the importance of pursuing research into psychedelic treatments and other alternative treatments to improve Veterans' care,' Bergman and Correa wrote. Why it matters: The VA also embraced psychedelics research during the Biden administration, awarding $1.5 million in funding last December to study psychedelic therapy for veterans. It was the first time the VA put money into studying the drugs since the 1960s. At the same time, the Food and Drug Administration last year rejected a drugmaker's plan to offer a psychedelic drug, MDMA, alongside therapy as a treatment for post-traumatic stress disorder — a major blow to the company, Lykos Therapeutics, and the industry. Bergman and Correa had lobbied the agency to approve the application. What's next: Bergman and Correa hope VA research can demonstrate the drugs' efficacy in helping ex-servicemembers who have mental health problems as a result of their military service. That, they believe, could lead to FDA approval of the drugs for civilians with mental illness.
Politico
10-03-2025
- Health
- Politico
‘Bad DOG(GI)E'
WASHINGTON WATCH Scientists, researchers and patient advocates have turned out for demonstrations in cities nationwide to protest the Trump administration's research cuts and firings at federal health and science agencies. In Washington, a crowd gathered in front of the Lincoln Memorial on Friday with signs advocating for scientific research and deriding billionaire Elon Musk, whose Department of Government Efficiency campaign to root out government waste prompted the firing of thousands of federal health workers last month. Some memorable slogans: 'Tesla was named after a scientist,' 'Bad DOG(GI)E' and 'Trust science not sociopaths.' Dr. Francis Collins, who was director of the National Institutes of Health for 12 years and spearheaded the Human Genome Project, took the microphone to defend the agency as an economic powerhouse with globally envied achievements — not an enemy. 'I'm a patriot. I love my country, and I'm worried about my country right now,' Collins, who unexpectedly retired the previous week, told the crowd. Collins, who ran a lab at the NIH after he stepped down as director, gave no reason for his retirement. Agencies could be more efficient, he allowed, but NIH's success until now was possible only because Congress and Republicans supported it. 'Interventions need to be made with full understanding of the whole ecosystem,' Collins said. 'While moving fast and breaking things might be an appropriate mantra for Silicon Valley, a better mantra when the decisions will potentially disrupt an institution with a stunningly positive track record and affect the future health of the nation, let's go with: First, do no harm.' Why it matters: The NIH has been in the Trump administration's crosshairs since the president took office in January. In addition to firing roughly 1,200 NIH workers, the administration has moved to eliminate projects related to race and gender and cut research funding. Last month, the NIH tried to slash agency funding that supports grantees' administration and facilities expenses, a cost-cutting measure that would strip $4 billion from universities and grantees. The move has since been blocked by the courts. On Monday, Harvard announced a temporary hiring freeze, citing 'substantial financial uncertainties' as administrators wait to see how federal policy changes take shape. WELCOME TO FUTURE PULSE This is where we explore the ideas and innovators shaping health care. POLITICO's Daniel Lippman has learned that Department of Health and Human Services' chief technology officer Alicia Rouault was removed in January, according to a person familiar with the matter. Ruth reported in February that Rouault, chief AI officer Meghan Dierks and chief data officer Kristen Honey, were put on administrative leave shortly after they were hired in January. Know more? Reach out to Ruth. Share any thoughts, news, tips and feedback with Carmen Paun at cpaun@ Daniel Payne at dpayne@ Ruth Reader at rreader@ or Erin Schumaker at eschumaker@ Are you a current or former federal worker who wants to share a tip securely? Message us on Signal: CarmenP.82, DanielP.100, RuthReader.02 or ErinSchumaker.01. THE LAB Plant-based oils might be a healthier alternative to butter, according to new research published in JAMA Internal Medicine. The study — from researchers at Harvard, MIT, Mass General Brigham and VA Boston Health Care, among others — followed more than 220,000 people over nearly three decades. Higher intake of canola, soybean and olive oils was associated with lower mortality, the study found. When the researchers modeled the effects of replacing butter with plant-based oils in a daily diet, they saw a 17 percent lower risk of death. Those with the highest intake levels of plant oils saw a 16 percent lower risk of death compared with those with the lowest intake. By contrast, those in the cohort with the highest butter intake had a 15 percent higher risk of total mortality than those with the lowest intake. Why it matters: Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s 'Make America Healthy Again' movement has a large number of acolytes who argue seed oils, a subset of plant-based oils, cause inflammation and have praised butter or tallow as healthier alternatives. Messaging and policy decisions around the role of fats in Americans' diets are particularly important — given that cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of death in the U.S. Even so: Some experts and health care providers have quietly supported the MAHA movement's focus on diet, exercise and other lifestyle factors in addressing chronic diseases — even if they worry the movement also contributes to mistrust in solid health information.
Politico
07-03-2025
- Health
- Politico
FDA nominee pitches AI application review
WASHINGTON WATCH 'There's a number of opportunities with AI right now that we have that we've never had before,' Dr. Marty Makary, President Donald Trump's nominee to lead the Food and Drug Administration, told a panel of lawmakers he hopes will confirm him. In particular, AI could assist FDA staff to review drug and device applications, he told senators on the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee. He was quick to add that AI would assist reviewers, not replace them. He also said AI could be used to aid with data monitoring after a drug has been approved. 'So that we don't learn five years after Vioxx was approved that 38,000 Americans died from it,' he said. Vioxx was a pain killer that was removed from the market after it was found to raise the risk of heart attack and stroke. Dr. David Graham, former associate director in the FDA's Office of Drug Safety, estimated that between 88,000 and 139,000 Americans had heart attacks and strokes as a result of taking the drug, some of which were fatal. Open questions: But the Johns Hopkins surgeon also said the FDA could potentially share data with drug developers that might help them 'train machine learning models, to help design AI systems that can predict toxicities, adverse events, and even cures for some conditions.' Drug developers are also thinking about how AI can help prevent the advancements of drugs that could ultimately get pulled. It's unclear how the FDA could play a role in that. One question is: What data could FDA provide that wouldn't be proprietary to the companies? Background: Former Commissioner Robert Califf also talked about using AI internally at the FDA, particularly for compliance monitoring. But those plans were dashed after Trump won the election and Califf left the FDA. So far, the Trump administration has unwound much of the Department of Health and Human Services' work to lay a foundation to use and regulate AI. Recently, it took down a public-facing document laying out HHS's AI strategy. WELCOME TO FUTURE PULSE This is where we explore the ideas and innovators shaping health care. Butterflies are vanishing from America, with potentially dire impacts on pollination that sustains plants and crops, the Washington Post reports. Share any thoughts, news, tips and feedback with Carmen Paun at cpaun@ Daniel Payne at dpayne@ Ruth Reader at rreader@ or Erin Schumaker at eschumaker@ Are you a current or former federal worker who wants to share a tip securely? Message us on Signal: CarmenP.82, DanielP.100, RuthReader.02 or ErinSchumaker.01. WORLD VIEW America's sudden freezing and subsequent termination of most foreign aid funding is crippling tuberculosis services in countries with the highest number of cases and risks reversing decades of progress against one of the world's top infectious disease killers, the World Health Organization warned Wednesday. To date, thousands of health workers have been suspended and face layoffs, and that has impacted essential health services and drug supply chains. Laboratory testing services are 'severely disrupted,' the WHO said, due to delays in sample transportation and shortages of essential laboratory materials, halting efforts to diagnose more people with the disease. 'Community engagement efforts — including active case finding, screening, and contact tracing — are deteriorating, reducing early TB detection and increasing transmission risks,' the WHO added. The Trump administration has terminated multiyear grants, contracts or agreements on tuberculosis worth at least $820 million, according to a POLITICO analysis of a document it obtained listing all terminations. The figure doesn't include programs focusing on both tuberculosis and HIV/AIDS or on tuberculosis and other conditions. Research on tuberculosis has also been impacted, since the U.S. Agency for International Development, which the Trump administration has gutted, has halted all the clinical trials it was funding, the WHO said. USAID was among the top three research funders in the world for tuberculosis, according to the WHO. Why it matters: Tuberculosis has consistently been the world's top infectious disease killer, besides the years where Covid-19 took its spot. More than 10 million people globally fell ill from tuberculosis in 2023, the latest year for which data is available. Around 1.2 million people died of tuberculosis that year. Just over two dozen countries account for most of the world's tuberculosis cases — including India, Indonesia and the Philippines — and 18 of them depend significantly on U.S. funding. America has provided between $200 to and $250 million yearly in bilateral funding for tuberculosis. This funding represented about one quarter of the total amount of international donor funding for tuberculosis, the WHO said.
