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Politico
3 hours ago
- Health
- Politico
Where is Tom Keane?
WASHINGTON WATCH President Donald Trump unveiled on Wednesday a federally driven initiative that will allow Americans to access their medical records via an app, potentially marking the end of health care's long reliance on paper. At a White House event, he invited 60-some companies in health care — from rural health care providers to tech giants — to agree to work to free up health data from within doctors' offices, apps, information exchanges and payer databases. But notably, Assistant Secretary for Technology Policy and head of the Office for the National Coordinator for Health IT Tom Keane was absent from yesterday's activities at the White House. 'You own your medical records. They're yours. Why you can't have access to them is this stunning reality in modern-day America,' Dr. Mehmet Oz, Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services administrator, said at the event. The aim is to make patient data available for use in apps and artificial intelligence tools, enabling Americans to more easily book health appointments, receive health advice from AI agents and give their care providers better insight into their health. Somewhat surprisingly, this effort is being driven by CMS instead of the Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT, which writes the rules for electronic medical records and the guidelines for how health data flows in this country. So where was he? Keane spoke at a morning event in the Eisenhower building for both signatories of the commitments and members of the health care industry who were not invited to the White House announcement, about the need for trusted data infrastructure to support CMS new initiative, according to three health care industry advocates who attended. TEFCA: Despite extensive discussions about interoperability, notably absent was any mention of the Trusted Exchange Framework and Common Agreement, also known as TEFCA, a federally supported health information network championed by former head of the Office of the National Coordinator Micky Tripathi. 'TEFCA is a huge piece of how this data exchange will be done to meet part of the commitments,' said Joe Ganley, vice president of regulatory affairs at electronic health record Athenahealth. His company announced on Tuesday that all of its roughly 100,000 clients can now send and receive data on TEFCA. But he also said the commitments aren't prescriptive, and he expects data exchange to happen in other ways, including via more direct connections. As part of those industry commitments, CMS had an opportunity to require participation in TEFCA, but notably didn't ask for that. What else: Industry may also turn to data networks that it has long relied on instead of TEFCA. Jason Prestinario, CEO of health IT firm Particle Health, who signed the commitments along with Carequality, an existing network for sharing data, called on the latter to change its rules to require better data flow. 'A simple change of the [Carequality] rules from 'should' to 'must' on individual access would immediately accomplish many of the goals CMS set today,' he wrote on LinkedIn. That would enable patients to get their records directly from Carequality participants, which includes health systems among others. WELCOME TO FUTURE PULSE This is where we explore the ideas and innovators shaping health care. ICYMI: Peter Bowman-Davis, recent undergrad at Yale University and now former HHS chief AI officer, has left the building. Chief Technology Officer Clark Minor will take over his responsibilities. Share any thoughts, news, tips and feedback with Carmen Paun at cpaun@ Ruth Reader at rreader@ or Erin Schumaker at eschumaker@ Want to share a tip securely? Message us on Signal: CarmenP.82, RuthReader.02 or ErinSchumaker.01. MORNING MONEY: CAPITAL RISK — POLITICO's flagship financial newsletter has a new Friday edition built for the economic era we're living in: one shaped by political volatility, disruption and a wave of policy decisions with sector-wide consequences. Each week, Morning Money: Capital Risk brings sharp reporting and analysis on how political risk is moving markets and how investors are adapting. Want to know how health care regulation, tariffs, or court rulings could ripple through the economy? Start here. WORLD VIEW For American lawmakers hoping to make the web safer for kids, the last week in the U.K. offers a bracing lesson in unintended consequences, writes POLITICO's Aaron Mak. Doctors, researchers, and even the former U.S. surgeon general under President Joe Biden, Vivek Murthy, have expressed increasing concern about the impact of social media on children's mental and physical health. A new law to promote online safety in the United Kingdom has swept up a lot more content than social media users expected, and a wide range of advocacy groups and disgruntled consumers are rising to object. The U.K.'s Online Safety Act took effect Friday to shield minors from 'harmful' content — not just pornography, but also material that's hateful, promotes substance abuse or depicts 'serious violence.' The rules apply to any site accessible in the U.K., even those based in the U.S. This means sites like Reddit, Bluesky and even Grindr now have to abide by the OSA's speech regulations to stay online in the country. The debut of the OSA has been met with swift pushback. After a petition to repeal the act received more than 350,000 signatures, the U.K. government responded Monday that it had no plans to do so. Nigel Farage, leader of the far-right Reform U.K. party, has also pledged to repeal the act. VPNs, which route a user's internet traffic through another country, have hit the top of the U.K.'s app download charts. Though the U.S. isn't as tough on tech as Europe, both state and federal lawmakers take cues from their regulatory approach. For example, the language for California's Age Appropriate Design Code Act, which is on pause as courts decide whether it's constitutional, was inspired by the U.K. Children's Code. U.S. lawmakers can't bar minors from particular kinds of content, even if it's hateful or age-inappropriate, because it runs up against free speech rules. Still, the U.K.'s Online Safety Act may offer a window into how American youth are likely to respond to age-verification laws. States, including Texas, Louisiana, and Utah, are passing rules that require app stores to get parental consent before kids can download apps. And the U.S. Supreme Court recently upheld age-verification laws related to pornography that at least 23 states have in place. While those laws are more limited than the U.K.'s law, the rollout of the safety act could offer lessons for states passing and enforcing age-verification requirements. 'We're seeing that regardless of where you implement these laws and these measures, users are still frustrated,' Paige Collings, senior speech and privacy activist at the Electronic Frontier Foundation, told Mak. She pointed out that Florida also saw a spike in searches for VPNs after it implemented an online porn law in January.
Irish Daily Star
9 hours ago
- Health
- Irish Daily Star
Trump says he doesn't want to know anything about his medical history despite 'perfect health'
Donald Trump said that he does not want to see his own health records at the White House event this afternoon, as the public continues to speculate about his health President Trump joked that if something is wrong with his health he "doesn't want to know about it right now." The president spoke on Wednesday at an event tailored toward making 'Health Tech Great Again.' The administration announced progress toward building a smarter, more secure, and more personalized healthcare experience in partnership with innovative private sector companies. The 'Make Health Tech Great Again' was hosted by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), at the White House. While speaking about the recent changes made, Trump joked about his own health, which has been the topic of conversation online lately. "The new standards will also make it simple for patients to access their own personal health records," Trump said. "I don't want to see mine, please. I don't want to see… They can tell you exactly what your problem is going to be in 6 years - If I got a problem, I don't want to know about it right now." Trump's comment immediately sparked concerns on social media, where people have already been debating about the 79-year-old's physical and cognitive health. @jay_dale wrote on X, "Doesn't want to see his? I thought his doctor said he was the healthiest man to ever walk the face of the Earth?" News emerged this month that Trump was suffering from chronic venous insufficiency - a minor vein condition that causes swelling in legs. The president's physician, Sean Barbabella, assured the public that Trump remains in "excellent" overall health. Despite this, the public continues to speculate about Trump's cognitive health. A number of recent incidents have suggested that he might be disoriented, confused, or over-exhausted. Earlier today, Trump attended a signing ceremony at the Roosevelt Room. As he took part in a bill signing ceremony, he looked at one reporter with a confused expression and she was forced to repeat her question over and over. Clips of the moment were shared on social media, further fueling rumors that Trump is not at the top of his game, as he has repeatedly claimed. During the event this afternoon, the Trump administration secured commitments from both healthcare and information technology giants – including Amazon, Anthropic, Apple, Google, and OpenAI. Trump thanked them, calling them the "top people." Article continues below Health Secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr identified the step as a crucial one in his plan to 'Make America Healthy Again.' 'For decades, bureaucrats and entrenched interests buried health data and blocked patients from taking control of their health,' said RFK. 'That ends today. We're tearing down digital walls, returning power to patients, and rebuilding a health system that serves the people. This is how we begin to Make America Healthy Again.' For the latest local news and features on Irish America, visit our homepage here.
Time Magazine
a day ago
- Health
- Time Magazine
Trump to Launch Private Health Tracking System With Tech Firms
The Trump Administration announced a new initiative on Wednesday designed to allow Americans to share their medical records across a host of apps and programs managed by private tech companies—a move that proponents says will facilitate easier access to those records across the country's fragmented health care system, but that digital privacy experts fear will risk making patients' data less secure. 'For decades, America's health care networks have been overdue for a high-tech upgrade and that's what we are doing,' President Donald Trump said during an event announcing the initiative on Wednesday afternoon. The Administration 'secured commitments' from more than 60 tech and health care companies—including Amazon, Apple, Google, and OpenAI—'to begin laying the foundation for a next-generation digital health ecosystem that will improve patient outcomes, reduce provider burden, and drive value,' according to a press release from the U.S. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS). Making health records more easily accessible has been a goal of the federal government for decades, with the hope of allowing patients to seamlessly switch between providers. But such efforts have long been dogged by concerns over privacy and the challenges of companies offering competing proprietary records systems. The Administration's new initiative, according to CMS, will focus on 'easily and seamlessly' sharing information between patients and medical providers, as well as 'increasing the availability of personalized tools so that patients have the information and resources they need to make better health decisions.' Initial goals of the initiative include apps that focus on diabetes and obesity management, using conversational AI assistants to help patients, and replacing paper intake forms with digital check-in options. The announcement was the latest move by the Trump Administration to emphasize the value of incorporating the latest technology in the health system. In June, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. testified in a congressional hearing about how he sees 'wearables' like smart watches as a game changer in health care. 'We think that wearables are a key to the MAHA agenda—Making America Healthy Again. My vision is that every American is wearing a wearable within four years,' Kennedy said. The announcement prompted immediate pushback from digital privacy experts, who warned of the dangers of sharing health data with companies that aren't covered by the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, or HIPAA, the federal law that protects personal health information from being shared by certain entities, such as medical providers and insurers, without a person's consent. Andrew Crawford, a senior policy counsel at the Center for Democracy and Technology, says he has concerns about how the data will be collected and used by the companies involved in the initiative, what consumers will be told about their data privacy, and what limits there will be on how the data can be used and shared. If the company were to share a patient's information that went beyond the requested health service—like with advertisers that could then potentially target that individual based on inferences from their health data—that would be problematic, Crawford says. Another unanswered question, he says, is in what circumstances, if any, the government would be able to access patients' health data through this initiative, and, if so, how they may or may not use that information. 'We've seen recently this Administration creating data sets that didn't exist before and using them for things like immigration enforcement,' Crawford says. He points to reproductive health choices as an example of medical data that many would be uncomfortable being shared across so many companies. Many apps also collect location data, Crawford notes, so he worries about the possibility that the data collected could show, for instance, if people traveled out of state to access abortion care that isn't legal in their home state. CMS said in its announcement that the initiative will be 'more secure, and more personalized,' and 'use secure digital identity credentials to obtain medical records from CMS Aligned Networks.' Dr. Brian Anderson, chief executive officer of the Coalition for Health AI, a nonprofit focused on creating guidelines for the responsible use of AI in health care, agrees there are 'some outstanding questions' about the initiative, including what protections will be in place to ensure that the data shared with tech companies not covered by HIPAA will remain private. But he believes this is a challenge that can be addressed. 'We just need to come together, as both private sector and public sector, and clearly define what those rules of the road are to ensure that patients' data is used in ways only that they intend and want it to be used,' Anderson says. He says that he is 'very excited' to see a group of tech companies pledging to 'to make it easier for patients to have access to their own data,' especially since 'our data is oftentimes not in one centralized place.' Still, others were unsure that this initiative would produce much benefit for patients, particularly if their sensitive medical records end up compromised. 'I think our system is designed to promote sharing already,' Crawford says. 'There are issues and there are hang-ups and flaws in that system, but I'm not sure—because I haven't seen the details yet—on if and how this announcement that's sharing more information with private entities, many of which may be outside HIPAA, will do anything to increase the quality of care.'
India Today
a day ago
- Health
- India Today
Trump admin to launch private health tracking system with tech giants
The Trump administration is pushing an initiative for millions of Americans to upload personal health data and medical records on new apps and systems run by private tech companies, promising it will make it easier to access health records and monitor initiative with more than 60 big firms, including leading tech giants like Google, Amazon, Open AI as well as prominent hospital systems like the Cleveland Clinic, will convene at the White House on Wednesday afternoon to discuss what the administration is calling a 'digital health ecosystem.' Trump made remarks in the White House event titled 'Making Health Technology Great Again'. advertisementHe termed it as an attempt to "Kill the Clipboard" and digitise the personal health records. "For decades, America's healthcare networks have been overdue for a high-tech update and that's what we are doing. With today's announcement, we take a major step to bring health care into the digital age". Trump announced the official launch of the CMS of the digital health tech eco system. "Today, the dream of easily transportable electronic medical records finally become a reality". The new health care tracking system will focus on diabetes and weight management, conversational AI that helps patients, and digital tools, like QR codes and apps, that would register patients for check-ins or track US health department has stated that 60 companies have signed on to work with the system and have pledged to deliver the program to American citizens by the first quarter of 2026. HOW WILL THE SYSTEM FUNCTION?The system will be largely operated and maintained by the federal government through the Centres for Medicare and Medicaid Services. The patients will need to volunteer and opt in to have their medical records and data shared, which as per the CMS will be kept secured. When the patient comes in contact with the system, their medical records could be shared across health systems or apps that will be a part of the new health tracking are, however, growing concerns about the privacy of the medical records of patients. Lawrence Gostin, a professor of law from Georgetown university who specialises in public health has commented on the same.'Patients across America should be very worried that their medical records are going to be used in ways that harm them and their families.' Jeffrey Chester, the executive Director of the Centre for Digital Democracy (CDD) said that the scheme is "an open door for the further use and monetisation of sensitive and personal health information".Amid such concerns among experts and tech professionals, Trump stated that the system will enable patients' easy transmission of electronic medical records from one doctor to another despite different network systems. Trump stated that the new system will enable patients to easily "access their own personal health records."advertisementFurthermore, Trump stated that the system will be "opt in and there will be no centralised government run database which everyone is concerned about." Addressing the concerns about maintaining the privacy of the records, he claimed that the personal records will be be personal and "very very quiet and the doctors and patients will remain in control." The initiative, spearheaded by an administration that has already freely shared highly personal data about Americans in ways that have tested legal bounds, could put patients' desires for more convenience at their doctor's office on a collision course with their expectations that their medical information be kept private.- EndsWith inputs from Associated PressTune InMust Watch
Time of India
a day ago
- Health
- Time of India
Trump administration launches health data-sharing initiative; Google, Amazon among tech partners, CMS promises security
Representative image credits: AP The Trump administration announced Wednesday a sweeping program allowing Americans to share personal health data and medical records across private tech platforms and health systems. The initiative, backed by more than 60 companies—including Google, Amazon, Apple, UnitedHealth Group, and CVS Health—aims to improve access to patient records and help manage chronic conditions such as diabetes and obesity. It will also feature conversational artificial intelligence for patient support and digital tools like QR codes and medication-tracking apps. During a White House event with industry leaders, President Trump said, as quoted by AP, 'For decades America's health care networks have been overdue for a high tech upgrade… With today's announcement, we take a major step to bring health care into the digital age.' He emphasised that the new system will address slow, costly, and incompatible current health record systems. Noom, a popular weight-loss and fitness subscription service, is among the companies participating. CEO Geoff Cook explained the system will allow the app to access labs or medical tests from other providers, feeding an AI-driven analysis that could support personalized weight-management plans. He said, 'Right now you have a lot of siloed data.' by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like Always Put a Plastic Bottle on Your Tires when Parked, Here's Why Cleverst Undo CMS opt-in system promises convenience- but raises privacy concerns The centers for medicare and medicaid services (CMS), the agency in charge of managing the program, said patient participation is voluntary. Users must opt in to share their data, which CMS said will be kept secure. However, the initiative has drawn criticism from privacy experts. Georgetown law professor Lawrence Gostin warned, 'There are enormous ethical and legal concerns… Patients across America should be very worried that their medical records are going to be used in ways that harm them and their families.' Hospitals also see promise in the program. Cleveland Clinic CEO Dr Tomislav Mihaljevic said it will enable doctors to view complete patient histories, improving diagnosis and treatment plans. He added that continuous data from apps, tracking diet and exercise habits, offers insight into a patient's health outside of the clinic setting: 'These apps give us insight about what's happening with the patient's health outside of the physician's office. ' Despite these benefits, digital privacy advocates remain worried. Jeffrey Chester of the center for digital democracy criticised the lack of government oversight in health technology, calling the system 'an open door for the further use and monetization of sensitive and personal health information.' CMS already holds data on over 140 million Americans. Earlier this month, the agency agreed to share its database, including home addresses, with deportation officials- raising alarms about further expansion of federal access to personal data.
