“You’re so much bigger than your action figures!” This is not what President Trump said to Chinese leader Xi Jinping when they met in China for a summit this week, but that would have been funny if he did. Instead, it is what Po says to the Furious Five in the animated classic Kung Fu Panda. It is a great story about leadership – how a giant clumsy panda becomes the improbable prophesied Dragon Warrior chosen to keep the peace – which is the health policy theme (leadership, not clumsy pandas) in the One Thoughtful Paragraph below.
Other leadership moments – great or not – in the news this week:
- Vice President JD Vance, alongside HHS and FTC leaders, warned state Medicaid officials to aggressively prosecute fraud in their state programs at a White House event on May 13, 2026. Some states are reportedly cooperating, like Ohio and Maryland, but others risk the deferral of federal funding for their programs (e.g., $1.3 billion is being withheld from California due to alleged fraudulent hospice care).
- On Mother’s Day, HHS launched Moms.gov, a website with resources for new and expecting mothers, including information about pregnancy centers, dietary guidelines, and links to create Trump Accounts for children and access TrumpRx prescriptions.
- In response to concerns about how patient data is being accessed and shared on the national health data exchange known as TEFCA, the framework now has a formal set of consequences if a major health network doesn’t play by the rules. The Sequoia Project released a new SOP establishing a tiered framework for QHIN non-compliance with TEFCA requirements, ranging from written warnings to termination, effective June 4, 2026.
[breathing heavily] “I know you’re trying to be all mystical and Kung Fu-ey, but could you at least tell me where we’re going?” Again, one would hope that this is not one of the things President Trump said to Chinese leader Xi Jinping this week when they were walking around together. Instead, this is what our Dragon Warrior hero “Po” says to his kung fu teacher in the movie Kung Fu Panda. It is a story about how people you don’t expect to become leaders rise to the challenge. This is what we need now that FDA Commissioner Marty Makary has resigned – and not just because regulatory oversight of drugs and food is important. It is because FDA is also responsible for regulating (or deciding to not regulate) digital health tools. As technology flies closer to the “practice of medicine sun,” this is an important time for the FDA to weigh in. For instance, a class action lawsuit was filed recently against a couple of hospitals for using the Abridge ambient scribe to take notes during patient visits. This tool, like all ambient scribes used for this purpose, is not FDA approved because the FDA does not classify ambient AI transcription tools as regulated medical devices. But even if ambient scribes are not doing any diagnosing, they could have a profound effect on patient care because of what they are including in the medical record. Sooo… is this an FDA thing? An ONC electronic health record overseer thing? An Office of Civil Rights HIPAA privacy thing? Not much is clear, and any worthy person offered this job will be nervous about taking on this complex new frontier. Whoever is considering the job may consider the wisdom of the kung fu master in the Kung Fu Panda movie: Yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery, but today is a gift. That is why it is called the present.
And, if you’d like to hear Maverick Health Policy and Goldsand Freidberg dive deeper into the legal and regulatory implications of AI Practicing Medicine, join us for a FREE webinar on May 27th at 3pm ET – register here.
