Federal judges block laws targeting planning parent funding
A US district judge blocked the provisions of Trump’s new law that cut Medicaid funds from planned parents, calling them unconstitutional.
President Donald Trump and his top health officials are pursuing new initiatives that will allow people to share their health and medical records with doctors and hospitals.
Technology Giants Apple, Amazon, Google, Open AI, Health Industries Companies UnitedHealth Group and CVS Health are among over 60 companies that agree to develop standards for sharing health information across computer systems.
Trump touted the idea of eliminating redundancy, including filling out paperwork in multiple healthcare provider offices.
“This allows patients to easily send information from one doctor to another,” Trump said at a July 30 briefing with Robert F. Kennedy Jr. of the Health and Human Services Administration and Mehmet Oz Center, Medicare and Medicaid Services Administrator.
Trump emphasized that the initiative is voluntary and requires patients to opt in. He added that there will be no centralized government-run database that will store personal records of patients.
“People are very concerned about their personal records,” Trump said. “That’s their choice…it’s definitely going to be quiet.”
The large hospital system and some doctors allow patients to share their health information, fill out forms and schedule appointments through their website and mobile apps. And health technology companies have developed apps that allow people to track their health information, but these apps often have no access to medical records from healthcare providers, said Amy Gleason, representative administrator for the government’s Department of Efficiency or DOGE.
According to the Trump administration, companies that run 21 networks have agreed to an “interoperability framework” to meet the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Standards. According to the CMS, the hospital system and electronic health records vendors have agreed to cooperate with the effort.
Participating apps can help you manage obesity and diabetes, such as using AI assistants to check symptoms and schedule appointments, CMS said.
Privacy and data security remain the best concern
Chris Pearson, CEO of Black Cloak, a cybersecurity company based in Orlando, Florida, said the healthcare industry and tech companies have been trying to reduce paperwork and share electronic health records seamlessly for 30 years.
Hospitals, physicians, labs and vendors who directly process these sensitive medical records are subject to the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act or the federal privacy laws known as the HIPAA.
To make health information and records more portable and accessible, Pearson said, consumers need to ensure strong privacy protections and control over the information they share.
Consumers may be willing to share sensitive information with doctors, hospitals, or labs. However, it is best to block the app from sharing records with third parties such as exercise equipment vendors and dietary supplement retailers.
Pearson said such apps still need to comply with HIPAA and other federal and state laws. Considering the app is optional and requires consent, it will likely comply with privacy laws, Pearson said.
Companies need to secure information technology to protect sensitive information from data breaches.
Hackers target health records
Digital medical records are a popular target for hackers seeking sensitive health information, bank records, and identifiable information about a person, such as date of birth and social security numbers.
The number of attacks has skyrocketed in recent years, and is often carried out by organized hackers operating overseas.
HHS investigates whether violations involve violations of the Health Information Privacy and Security Act and publicly reports attacks affecting more than 500 on its website.
In July alone, HHS records show that data breaches of more than 20 people have damaged records of over 3 million people.
The biggest hacks in recent years included an attack on the change healthcare of United-owned subsidiary in February 2024. The attack disrupts the healthcare industry as doctors and hospitals were unable to collect payments for weeks when computer systems went down.
