These are interesting times. Turning on the news is not advisable for mental health, and it feels like it’s been this way and getting worse since about March 2020. But for those of us that track health technology policy, this may be one of the most promising times in a decade. It’s hard to stay positive in this environment, so I wanted to give folks a few reasons why they should be excited about the opportunities in front of us.
- HHS recently finished collecting comments on one of the most sweeping RFIs I’ve ever seen specific to health technology and data. With over 1,300 comments received, there are some themes across the various entities that participated in the RFI process. Many of these call for HHS to continue API requirements across the health care industry to free up data, and some point out the lack of enforcement on information blocking. The Trump Administration has said they are open to big ideas and thinking outside the box, so now is the opportunity to push some of the health tech and interoperability policies that have been sitting dormant for years.
- The Trump Administration appears to be leaning on private-sector expertise and skill as opposed to building things in-house. This should be a good opportunity for vendors and technologists to show they can perform tasks more efficiently and effectively than current systems. One area of particular interest right now is waste, fraud, and abuse. DOJ recently announced finding $14.6 billion in fraud in part through the use of AI and other tools. CMMI also announced a new model to harness technology to combat “wasteful, inappropriate services.” In short – using technology to improve data systems in health care is becoming the norm for government.
- Republicans passed their “One Big Beautiful Bill” over the 4th of July, and the headlines are covered in costs – both the costs of extending the tax policies and the costs that will come from coverage losses. For those of you who work in technology and data, there are opportunities hidden behind these headlines. Medicaid enrollment and work requirements will force states and their MCOs to find efficiencies and new tools to help them with compliance. Vendors should work to map the new requirements to current state policies and start building solutions to help states fill the gaps before many of the requirements go live in 2027.
- Finally, Republicans failed to pass a moratorium on state laws limiting AI last week, but they are already saying they’ll bring the policy back up soon. This means that now is the time for industry to stand up and say what it does and does not want from Congress when it comes to AI. During the committee markup of the reconciliation bill in the House, Rep. Jay Obernolte (R-CA) said that he would be working on federal AI legislation to ensure consistency across the country.
Health care is very different from other industries, so we all need to work collectively to make sure the government offers thoughtful policies that enable the safe and responsible innovation we need. The good news is that it suddenly seems possible.
