Trump administration is launching a new private health tracking system
with Big Tech's help
[July 31, 2025]
By AMANDA SEITZ
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Trump administration announced it is launching a
new program that will allow Americans to share personal health data and
medical records across health systems and apps run by private tech
companies, promising that will make it easier to access health records
and monitor wellness.
More than 60 companies, including major tech companies like Google,
Amazon and Apple as well as health care giants like UnitedHealth Group
and CVS Health, have agreed to share patient data in the system. The
initiative will focus on diabetes and weight management, conversational
artificial intelligence that helps patients, and digital tools such as
QR codes and apps that register patients for check-ins or track
medications.
“For decades America’s health care networks have been overdue for a high
tech upgrade,” President Donald Trump said during an event with company
CEOs at the White House on Wednesday. “The existing systems are often
slow, costly and incompatible with one another, but with today’s
announcement, we take a major step to bring health care into the digital
age.”
The system, 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.
“There are enormous ethical and legal concerns,” said Lawrence Gostin, a
Georgetown University law professor who specializes in public health.
“Patients across America should be very worried that their medical
records are going to be used in ways that harm them and their families.”
Officials at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, who will be
in charge of maintaining the system, have said patients will need to opt
in for the sharing of their medical records and data, which will be kept
secure.
Those officials said patients will benefit from a system that lets them
quickly call up their own records without the hallmark difficulties,
such as requiring the use of fax machines to share documents, that have
prevented them from doing so in the past.
“We're going to have remarkable advances in how consumers can use their
own records,” Dr. Mehmet Oz, who leads the Centers for Medicare and
Medicaid Services, said during the White House event.
Popular weight loss and fitness subscription service Noom, which has
signed onto the initiative, will be able to pull medical records after
the system's expected launch early next year.
That might include labs or medical tests that the app could use to
develop an AI-driven analysis of what might help users lose weight, CEO
Geoff Cook told The Associated Press. Apps and health systems will also
have access to their competitors' information, too. Noom would be able
to access a person's data from Apple Health, for example.
“Right now you have a lot of siloed data,” Cook said.
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An American flag flies in front of the White House, Wednesday, July
23, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)
 Patients who travel across the
country for treatment at the Cleveland Clinic often have a hard time
obtaining all their medical records from various providers, said the
hospital system's CEO, Dr. Tomislav Mihaljevic. He said the new
system would eliminate that barrier, which sometimes delays
treatment or prevents doctors from making an accurate diagnosis
because they do not have a full view of a patient's medical history.
Having seamless access to health app data, such as what patients are
eating or how much they are exercising, will also help doctors
manage obesity and other chronic diseases, Mihaljevic said.
“These apps give us insight about what’s happening with the
patient’s health outside of the physician's office,” he said.
CMS will also recommend a list of apps on Medicare.gov that are
designed to help people manage chronic diseases, as well as help
them select health care providers and insurance plans.
Digital privacy advocates are skeptical that patients will be able
to count on their data being stored securely.
The federal government, however, has done little to regulate health
apps or telehealth programs, said Jeffrey Chester at the Center for
Digital Democracy.
Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and those
within his circle have pushed for more technology in health care,
advocating for wearable devices that monitor wellness and telehealth.
Kennedy also sought to collect more data from Americans’ medical
records, which he has previously said he wants to use to study
autism and vaccine safety. Kennedy has filled the agency with
staffers who have a history of working at or running health
technology startups and businesses.
CMS already has troves of information on more than 140 million
Americans who enroll in Medicare and Medicaid. Earlier this month,
the federal agency agreed to hand over its massive database,
including home addresses, to deportation officials.
The new initiative would deepen the pool of information on patients
for the federal government and tech companies. Medical records
typically contain far more sensitive information, such as doctors'
notes about conversations with patients and substance abuse or
mental health history.
“This scheme is an open door for the further use and monetization of
sensitive and personal health information,” Chester said.
The Trump administration tried to launch a less ambitious electronic
record program in 2018 that did not get finalized during his first
term, but it did not have buy in from major tech companies at the
time.
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