Trump Officials Grant Tech Giants Direct Access to Shape AI in Healthcare Through Private Slack Channel

Tech Giants Get Direct Line to Trump Health Officials

The Trump administration has granted tech companies including Microsoft, OpenAI, Google, and Apple unprecedented access to shape federal policy on AI through a government-run chat room on Slack1

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. For over a year, elite tech leaders and financiers have quietly collaborated with high-level Trump administration officials to persuade Americans to adopt AI-powered healthcare apps for managing medical records and health services2

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This behind-the-scenes effort began in August 2025 when Amy Gleason, former head of the Department of Government Efficiency, launched the Slack workspace1

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. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services has not formally announced the chat room through federal regulatory channels, though CMS officials have discussed it at industry conferences2

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Closed-Door FDA Meeting Raises Transparency Concerns

In February, federal health officials invited representatives from at least 35 industry organizations to a listening session on conversational AI products for patients, including chatbots1

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. The Food and Drug Administration, responsible for regulating health apps as medical devices, held this meeting without listing it on the FDA's public calendar or regulatory notices2

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Companies received advance prompts to explain their AI products and how they access patients' sensitive medical information1

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. CMS senior policy adviser Morgan Taylor promoted the session in the Slack workspace, writing: "This is a great opportunity to support HHS' goals and share your state-of-the-art understanding of safe Conversational AI development and monitoring to help FDA shape future guidance"2

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Legal experts suggest the chat room resembles a federal advisory panel, which would be required to operate in public view1

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Health Technology Ecosystem Promises Medicare Reimbursement

Federal health officials have been working to integrate AI into healthcare through an initiative branded the "Health Technology Ecosystem"2

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. CMS Administrator Mehmet Oz publicly launched this initiative in September, allowing health apps to bill Medicare for AI services such as wearable device tracking1

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. "We wanted to give industry a chance to play in the sandbox of government-supported healthcare," Oz stated2

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Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. delivered an enthusiastic endorsement of AI in healthcare, claiming it is "much better informed than any doctor in the country"1

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. HHS staff promised that the recently launched Medicare App Library would serve as a lucrative pipeline for businesses to acquire new users2

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. The library currently promotes only two dozen commercial apps to millions of American seniors and those with disabilities1

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Medical Community Raises Patient Data Privacy Concerns

While Trump administration officials promote easier access to medical records through AI-powered healthcare apps, tech companies gain equal access to sensitive patient data2

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. Doctors are increasingly concerned about how patients use and share medical records with nascent technology1

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"Some of these tools just aren't ready for primetime," said John Whyte, CEO of the American Medical Association. "We don't have enough data about them. We don't understand how they work, how they're using the information. There's no liability if these tools get things wrong"2

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KFF Health News reviewed thousands of Slack messages, meeting transcripts, and video recordings revealing how tech lobbying has shaped this policy direction1

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. CMS officials declined to answer questions about the Slack workspace's legality2

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. Amy Gleason, now chief product officer for the newly created Office of Health Technology and Products at CMS, stated that the Health Technology Ecosystem is "an open, voluntary technical collaboration" aimed at making health information more accessible1

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