| | | | |  | | By Ben Leonard and Ruth Reader | Presented by Nomi Health | | | | 'HUGE FOCUS ON SURVEILLANCE' — Virtual abortion groups are strengthening their privacy protections, fearing states could crack down on access by using their data to surveil people who had an abortion. Telehealth would become crucial for people seeking abortions if Roe v. Wade falls — especially for people in states restricting them. People could travel across state lines for virtual visits or have abortion medication mailed to a state where it's allowed, legal experts said. That, they added, doesn't come without legal risks. Privacy organizations, legal groups, Democratic lawmakers and abortion-rights advocates fear that law enforcement in those states could mine digital data via broad warrants from Facebook ads, Google search history and credit card transactions to track down people seeking abortions. States could attempt to punish those going to other states for legal abortions, said Mary Ziegler, a professor at the Florida State University College of Law and an expert on the legal battle over abortion. "This is not going to be a scenario where red and blue states most likely just leave each other alone," Ziegler said.
|  Among others, Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) has hammered data brokers for selling cellphone location data tied to people visiting abortion facilities. | Getty Images | Most state actions aiming to restrict abortion access have targeted providers, not individual patients. Sue Swayze Liebel, state policy director for anti-abortion-rights group Susan B. Anthony List, said that states will target pharmaceutical companies and providers, not individuals. That's not enough assurance for abortion and privacy groups. In 2018, Mississippi prosecutors leaned on online search records related to abortion pills and indicted a woman for killing what her lawyers said was her stillborn baby. The charges were later dropped. "We're going to see a huge focus on surveillance of telemedicine and online abortion services because, for millions of Americans, that's going to increasingly be their only way to secure safe abortion care," said Albert Fox Cahn, head of the nonprofit organization Surveillance Technology Oversight Project. Online abortion guide Plan C and online reproductive health clinic Choix told POLITICO they're looking into ways to defend privacy. Choix said it doesn't collect data on which state patients live in to minimize the amount of information it gathers. "It really boils down to is it medically necessary to have this piece of info or is there some legal precedent that we should be collecting this information," said Choix CTO Mark Adam. The situation raises other legal questions. Choix is working with its counsel to figure out what to do if it finds out "one way or another" that a potential patient is in Texas, which has already restricted abortion access. "It really depends upon … how that information is found out because we obviously don't ask, 'Are you currently in Texas or in this state?' We more have a conversation on where you would like your medication to shift," Adam said. "You, of course, need to be in that state to receive that medication and take it." Telehealth groups, which have been "scrupulously careful" to follow the law, will likely continue to follow them, Ziegler said. "The easiest people to enforce it against would be patients doing these searches on their phones or laptops," Ziegler said. "States at the moment … are saying they're not going to punish patients, but they'll find it would be easier to punish patients and therefore might ultimately decide to change their minds on that subject." Welcome back to Future Pulse, where we explore the convergence of health care and technology. Share your news, tips and feedback with Ben at bleonard@politico.com or @_BenLeonard_ and Ruth at rreader@politico.com or @RuthReader.
| | | | A message from Nomi Health: If not us, who? We're looking to Congress to help organizations like Nomi Health bring care – like free COVID-19 testing – to the un- and under-insured. Learn more. | | | | | | Alyssa Jaffee @AlyssaJoyJaffee "So many women seek care from digital health providers. Given the focus on delivering a strong care experience, digital health should be poised to lead the discussion on reproductive rights, not sit on the sidelines."
| | | TOP OFFICIAL TALKS TELEHEALTH — We caught up with Heather Dimeris, director of HRSA's Office for the Advancement of Telehealth, during the agency's National Telehealth Conference last week. Some quick highlights of our conversation, which has been edited for length and clarity: What are the biggest challenges facing telehealth and telehealth expansion efforts? Access to high-speed internet or broadband is really critical as the foundation for telehealth access and other social determinants of health. We are collaborating with the FCC, USDA and NTIA to assist with deploying their broadband funding. We're really fortunate for those collaborations to help fill the gaps because broadband access is really that foundation in order to get access to telehealth. How big an issue is state licensure for telehealth? It certainly is an area that needs more attention because the telehealth landscape over the pandemic has included reciprocity across state lines, and so any changes to that will feel like a big impact on the community in one way or another. It's an important issue to follow and learn in the field what is playing out in clinics and hospitals. HEALTH CYBER HEARING — Health care cybersecurity experts and lawmakers sounded the alarm on the cybersecurity threats facing the health care sector in a Senate HELP Committee hearing. Committee Chair Patty Murray (D-Wash.) called last week for cybersecurity attacks to be treated like national security threats and asked about improving information sharing and disclosure of attacks. Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.) warned of potential disruptions to care and noted that nearly 50 million people had their sensitive health data breached last year, as POLITICO reported. Cybersecurity experts pushed for further action. Health-ISAC President Denise Anderson said the sector needs incentives and support to bolster cybersecurity. "We need bold action, and we need it now," said Joshua Corman, former chief strategist of CISA's Covid task force and founder of volunteer cyber group I Am The Cavalry. "We have allowed and tolerated the intolerable — and unless we do significant things, both against the adversaries and to shore up minimum hygiene for the defenders, we should expect more of this." Corman said one victim of a significant cyberattack he worked with urged Congress to act on the PATCH Act, S. 3983 (117), which would set cybersecurity requirements for medical device manufacturers seeking premarket approval. He also called for "carrots and sticks" to incentivize better cyber practices. "If we're going to offer safe harbors, they should be tethered to an attestation about your current state of practice," Corman said.
| | | | A message from Nomi Health:   | | | | | | HEALTH AI FUNDING DIP — Another day, another decline in health tech cash. Global funding for health care artificial intelligence dropped more than $1 billion between the final quarter of 2021 and the first quarter of 2022, falling from $3.7 billion to $2.5 billion, according to a new report from CB Insights. The funding total ended an eight-quarter run of massive growth and is still more than any quarter before 2020. The dip tracks with the drop in overall digital health funding in the first quarter, which prompted some experts to warn that the market is headed for at least a correction.
| | | REAL-TIME WELL-BEING STUDY — The University of Oregon wants to know if your smartphone is so bad for you, why and who is most affected, Ruth reports. On Friday, the university's Center for Digital Mental Health will launch a studythrough Google Health Studies to figure out how digital technology relates to other aspects of our lives. It's one of few studies to have come through Google's Health Studies app, which launched in 2020. Researchers often use retrospective questionnaires to analyze whether technology might be harmful to users. This new study lets the devices do the talking by tracking how much participants move and sleep in relation to their screen habits.
| | | | INTRODUCING DIGITAL FUTURE DAILY - OUR TECHNOLOGY NEWSLETTER, RE-IMAGINED: Technology is always evolving, and our new tech-obsessed newsletter is too! Digital Future Daily unlocks the most important stories determining the future of technology, from Washington to Silicon Valley and innovation power centers around the world. Readers get an in-depth look at how the next wave of tech will reshape civic and political life, including activism, fundraising, lobbying and legislating. Go inside the minds of the biggest tech players, policymakers and regulators to learn how their decisions affect our lives. Don't miss out, subscribe today. | | | | | | | | APP FOR INSOMNIA — The U.K.'s National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) recommends that hundreds of thousands of people in the country with insomnia use an artificial intelligence–powered app, Big Health's Sleepio, as an alternative to sleeping pills. The agency, which gives national guidance on care and is funded by the government health department, said Friday the app would reduce costs and prescriptions of dependency-forming drugs. NICE said it evaluated data from 12 randomized controlled clinical trials showing the app — which includes a sleep test, diary and cognitive behavioral therapy — was more effective than pills and a change in sleep habits. It's a win for digital therapeutics, which have struggled to get covered in the U.S. because many haven't developed sufficient clinical trial evidence. G7 PANDEMIC PACT — G-7 nations agreed to bolster their ability to take on future pandemics, POLITICO Europe's Louis Westendarp reports. "This pandemic will not be the last. We have to take precautions today in order not to be surprised again tomorrow," German Health Minister Karl Lauterbach said.
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G-7 member nations agreed to bolster their ability to take on future pandemics | Henry Nicholls/Pool via AP | The pact aims to improve warning systems and detect new outbreaks, allowing them to be more effectively contained. The WHO Hub for Pandemic and Epidemic Intelligence in Berlin will become a data hub, and the member nations pledged to boost WHO contributions by 50 percent in the long term.
| | | | STEP INSIDE THE WEST WING: What's really happening in West Wing offices? Find out who's up, who's down, and who really has the president's ear in our West Wing Playbook newsletter, the insider's guide to the Biden White House and Cabinet. For buzzy nuggets and details that you won't find anywhere else, subscribe today. | | | | | | | | "How a complex web of businesses turned private health records from GE into a lucrative portrait of patients" — Casey Ross, STAT "Providers must choose their words carefully when pushing for telehealth expansion" — Katie Adams, MedCity News "USAID on expanding digital health globally" — Jessica Hagen, in part two of a seriesin pharmaphorum
| | | | A message from Nomi Health: During the pandemic, Nomi Health partnered with federal, state, and local governments to perform free COVID tests for millions of uninsured Americans. Now, we're asking Congress to pass a supplemental bill to fund HRSA programs that help our nation's most at-risk populations get the care they need. Learn more about how you can help. | | | | | | | Follow us | | | | |
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