AI, tech leaders are lobbying Trump health officials in a government-run chat room - Fierce Healthcare
Oh my goodness, buckle up, because the government has built us a *chat room* and honestly, who needs a dry old notice in the Federal Register when you can have a warm, informal chat instead? ✨ Fierce Healthcare reports that a "cadre of elite techies, financiers, and high-level Trump administration officials" has spent a *whole year* quietly charting a campaign to help Americans manage their healthcare through apps. A whole year of patient, behind-the-scenes devotion! The article calls it "extraordinary" and "rapid," which is really just the *flattering* word for skipping the boring bits.
And here's the thoughtful part: the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services hasn't formally announced the chat room through federal regulatory channels at all! Which is so *considerate*, because formal channels come with comment periods, and comment periods come with strangers saying unkind things about your beautiful idea. Instead, CMS officials have talked about it at industry conferences, where everybody already adores it. It's like throwing a surprise party and only inviting the people who organised it. No docket, no awkward paperwork — just a stage, a microphone, and a room full of nodding. ✨
Best of all, the entire point is to persuade Americans to use AI-powered apps and other tools to manage their medical records — your records, in an app, chosen with input from financiers! What a generous transfer of administrative burden. And because nothing has been announced through federal regulatory channels, there's no awkward paper trail, no tedious accountability, and no pesky opportunity for the public to raise a hand mid-handover. The formal launch is surely only a conference or two away, and until then the chat room stays beautifully *cozy*. ✨ And really, isn't it lovely that the people who will hold your medical records got to choose the room in which that was decided? ✨