Fears About Kids鈥� Online Safety Unite Democrats and Republicans
Amid a decline in youth mental health, momentum builds for a federal crackdown on social media companies over protections for kids.
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Amid a decline in youth mental health, momentum builds for a federal crackdown on social media companies over protections for kids.
A Slack workspace managed by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services has served as an extraordinary war room for AI industry insiders and Trump administration officials to launch a rapid campaign aimed at persuading Americans to manage their healthcare and medical records on apps.
Senate and House Democrats say the Trump administration鈥檚 plan to collect patients鈥� medical data violates privacy and will discourage people from seeking medical care.
The $50 billion federal Rural Health Transformation Program is set to flood rural America with new AI health tools. That鈥檚 despite little evidence on whether health-related AI can improve access to care and patient health in those communities.
The tiny federal agency that tracks consumer product safety is pressuring hospitals to turn over patient records from emergency room visits, including about injuries that have nothing to do with consumer products.
The Office of Personnel Management said it will 鈥減seudonymize鈥� medical records it collects on more than 8 million people 鈥� federal workers and retirees, and their family members. Democrats and employee unions say the agency鈥檚 move is an overreach.
Medicare is testing the use of artificial intelligence to preapprove several healthcare services. Federal health officials say prior authorization can help reduce fraud and contain costs. But doctors and patients describe the trial as 鈥渉orrendous鈥� and full of red tape so far.
The Trump administration has pursued an extensive pro-tobacco agenda as the president and his political movement have been buoyed by a flood of tobacco industry money, federal records show.
To collect and scrutinize millions of Americans鈥� health data, U.S. health secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. aims to work with state organizations that help health systems share medical records. In Nebraska, millions in federal dollars has flowed into one nonprofit cooperating with Kennedy鈥檚 project.
Sentri7, drug diversion software powered by artificial intelligence and used at hundreds of U.S. hospitals, did not catch a months-long string of fentanyl thefts in Tennessee in 2025, according to a state document.
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New ethics disclosures show the president invested in Eli Lilly and a company that manufactures injectable devices as his health agencies implemented policies that benefited them.
For years, the Department of Health and Human Services built standards to make sure electronic health records were user-friendly and offered transparent advice to doctors. Now they鈥檙e relaxing those standards, and doctors and critics in the hospital industry are worried.
With high demand for mental health care, a wave of artificial intelligence-powered chatbots are being marketed as therapy apps 鈥� with little evidence they work and few regulations.
Major health insurers and even Medicare are using artificial intelligence to make coverage decisions. But class action lawsuits have accused insurers of using AI to wrongfully withhold treatment, and new research illuminates the risks.
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A revolt is afoot in both red and blue states against the use of artificial intelligence in health insurance determinations 鈥� and against efforts led by President Donald Trump to tie states鈥� hands.
Politicians have pushed for price transparency in health care. But instead of patients shopping for services, it鈥檚 mostly health systems and insurers that are using the information, as fodder for negotiations over pay.
Under Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the Department of Health and Human Services increasingly uses its social media channels to promote Kennedy himself and his agenda. Interviews with over 20 former and current employees provide a look inside an agency where personality and politics steer communications with the public.
A pilot program testing the use of artificial intelligence to expand prior authorization decisions in Medicare has providers, politicians, and researchers questioning Trump administration promises to curb an unpopular practice that has frustrated patients and their doctors.
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