Amazon called to account – on health data

The ideas and innovators shaping health care

Jun 16, 2023 View in browser   By Ben Leonard, Erin Schumaker and Carmen Paun Programming note: We’ll be off this Monday for Juneteenth, but we’ll be back in your inboxes on Tuesday. DATA DIVE Warren's got some questions for Amazon about its health data collection practices. | Jacquelyn Martin/AP Photo Two Democratic senators are concerned that Amazon’s virtual care platform is “harvesting” patient health data. In a letter to Amazon CEO Andy Jassy that Ben obtained exclusively, Sens. Peter Welch of Vermont and Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts point to recent reporting in The Washington Post that Amazon Clinic requires patients to sign a form that gives the company “complete” access to their consumer health information. By signing, customers authorize Amazon to share their data and acknowledge that it’s not protected by HIPAA, the federal health privacy law. “Amazon Clinic customers deserve to fully understand why Amazon is collecting their health care data and what the company is doing with it,” Welch and Warren wrote, complaining that the company hasn’t explained on its site why it’s collecting the data and what it’s used for. The ask: The senators want Amazon to provide a sample contract with any third-party providers that give care to Amazon Clinic enrollees, disclose what data it shares and if and how it’s used to sell Amazon products or services. “Amazon is asking patients to turn over a ton of personal data to use their services,” Welch told POLITICO in an email. “It can’t be that Big Tech companies can ask for a treasure trove of personal information to let you use their services but face no accountability for what they’ll do with it.” Amazon responds: A spokesperson told POLITICO that it complies with HIPAA and “all other applicable laws and regulations” and said the company shares data with health providers to ensure patients are properly cared for. “Protecting customer data has always been incredibly important to Amazon, and we take our responsibility for safeguarding Protected Health Information very seriously. Amazon Clinic has stringent customer privacy policies,” the spokesperson said in an email. Why it matters: As health care increasingly moves into the digital realm, lawmakers are concerned about safeguarding patient privacy, especially as health data breaches and hacking surge.   LISTEN TO POLITICO'S ENERGY PODCAST: Check out our daily five-minute brief on the latest energy and environmental politics and policy news. Don't miss out on the must-know stories, candid insights, and analysis from POLITICO's energy team. Listen today.     WELCOME TO FUTURE PULSE Tabernash, Colo. | Shawn Zeller This is where we explore the ideas and innovators shaping health care. Walking and talking side-by-side — with less eye contact — reduces stress as compared to talking face-to-face, research shows. We don’t recommend you walk face-to-face, but you can try. Share any thoughts, news, tips and feedback with Ben Leonard at bleonard@politico.com, Ruth Reader at rreader@politico.com, Carmen Paun at cpaun@politico.com or Erin Schumaker at eschumaker@politico.com. Send tips securely through SecureDrop, Signal, Telegram or WhatsApp. Today on our Pulse Check podcast, host Alice Miranda Ollstein interviews Megan Messerly about Arkansas' speedy approach to removing ineligible people from the state's Medicaid rolls — which has hit some residents by surprise, leaving them scrambling to find alternative health insurance until they can prove their eligibility. Listen to today’s Pulse Check podcast TECH MAZE Health care executives expect AI's utility will only grow. | BELGA MAG/AFP via Getty Images Health care executives — not just tech firms — are bullish on artificial intelligence. A new survey of 100 health care executives from Incredible Health, the career development firm, found that more than two-thirds “moderately” believe that AI will impact their systems’ operations, while nearly 1 in 5 “completely” believe it will. And close to 6 in 10 are actively looking into adopting AI-enabled technology. Gold rush: Those findings come amid significant investment in the sector. Deals aimed at helping companies developing AI applications for health care expand totaled $5.8 billion in 2022 and compromised 181 deals. The pace is slowing, but an analysis from consulting firm Deloitte found that 622 expansion-stage deals have involved health care AI firms in which $22.5 billion exchanged hands, since 2018. “The most promising applications of AI within healthcare services more broadly seem to be concentrating in making practitioners more efficient” and enabling improved diagnoses, Deloitte wrote. The firm also found that the data sets undergirding AI are improving in “anonymity, depth, and breadth,” decreasing the risk of mistakes or bias. In Washington: Regulators and lawmakers are still grappling with how to police the technology given concerns about securing patient data, flawed algorithms and potential bias. Industry groups have proposed a blueprint to facilitate trust in artificial intelligence’s use in health care, with federal agencies serving as observers. The Food and Drug Administration in 2021 issued guidelines for market clearance for AI. In October, the White House released a voluntary “AI Bill of Rights” detailing how it expected AI developers to protect Americans from discrimination, surveillance and other potential harms. The Department of Health and Human Services has also proposed standards for artificial intelligence in health care.   SUBSCRIBE TO POWER SWITCH: The energy landscape is profoundly transforming. Power Switch is a daily newsletter that unlocks the most important stories driving the energy sector and the political forces shaping critical decisions about your energy future, from production to storage, distribution to consumption. Don’t miss out on Power Switch, your guide to the politics of energy transformation in America and around the world. SUBSCRIBE TODAY.     WASHINGTON WATCH More than half a million veterans are getting treatment for substance use disorder. Many public health officials and doctors see telehealth as a way to increase access to care in rural areas. But it’s not the right route to address substance use disorder in veterans living in them, a veteran who’s a health care provider told the Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee during a hearing this week. “Because you cannot physically assess that patient, you can’t physically determine if they have injection marks on their arms. You can’t see if they’re currently struggling,” said Chelsey Simoni, who served for a decade in the Army and is a registered nurse. Simoni detailed her own history of chronic pain, opioid addiction and suicidal ideation. She stressed how crucial timing is in assisting a veteran with substance use disorder who’s asking for help. “You can’t expect them to drive hours away or wait days,” she told the committee. “It takes 10 minutes from the time you have a thought of suicide to the action.” Why it matters: There are 550,000 veterans under treatment for substance use disorder, said Erica Scavella, the assistant under secretary for health for clinical services in the VA. She said that’s likely just half the number of veterans dealing with the disorder. Almost a quarter of veterans live in rural areas of the country and lack access to nearby treatment, said Jonathan Cantor, a policy researcher at the RAND Corporation who has looked at geographical accessibility of treatment for veterans with substance use disorder and other mental health conditions.   Follow us on Twitter Ben Leonard @_BenLeonard_ Ruth Reader @RuthReader Carmen Paun @carmenpaun Erin Schumaker @erinlschumaker   Follow us

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