Tech executives and Trump health officials shaped policy for AI health apps in a Medicare-run Slack of about 1,700 members, KFF Health News reports

KFF Health News reporters Amanda Seitz, Maia Rosenfeld and Darius Tahir reported on 9 October, in an article republished by CBS News, that federal health officials and executives from AI and digital-health companies have been discussing policy in a Slack workspace. The effort began in August 2025 under a plan branded the “Health Technology Ecosystem”, run by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. The workspace has grown to about 1,700 members, with only a handful of patient advocates, doctors or hospital representatives, the article says.

It reports that the FDA held a listening session in February on conversational AI products for patients, such as chatbots. The invitation went out in the Slack, and at least 35 industry organisations attended. The meeting did not appear on the FDA's public calendar or regulatory notices, and the public was not invited. Microsoft, Anthropic, OpenAI, Apple and Google were among those invited through the Slack, the article says; it names Oura Health, Palantir and the investment firm 8VC as participants. A CMS innovation official, Jacob Shiff, is reported to have hoped the work would be a “sales engine” for health apps.

Legal experts told KFF Health News the chat room resembles a federal advisory panel. Joseph Daval, a former FDA lawyer now at Harvard Medical School, said the law on such panels was passed partly out of concern about interest-group capture. CMS declined to answer several questions about the workspace, including about its legality, and the FDA did not respond. In an emailed statement, CMS's Amy Gleason wrote: “The Health Technology Ecosystem is an open, voluntary technical collaboration.” The American Medical Association's chief executive, John Whyte, said: “Some of these tools just aren't ready for primetime.”

• Reported KFF Health News reports the CMS Health Technology Ecosystem Slack has about 1,700 members, with only a handful of patient advocates, doctors or hospital representatives. KFF Health News, via CBS News
• Reported An FDA listening session on patient chatbots, attended by at least 35 industry organisations, was not on the FDA's public calendar and was not open to the public. KFF Health News, via CBS News
• Claimed CMS's Amy Gleason calls the Health Technology Ecosystem an open, voluntary technical collaboration; CMS declined to answer questions about its legality. CMS, emailed statement to KFF Health News