Government health contractor brings the AI

The ideas and innovators shaping health care

Jul 25, 2023 View in browser   By Ben Leonard, Erin Schumaker and Evan Peng TECH MAZE Porter sees AI playing a growing role in government health tech. | © Leidos 2023 Leidos, a $3 billion government health care technology contractor, sees potential use cases for artificial intelligence for its clients, including the Veterans Health Administration, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Food and Drug Administration. Liz Porter is president of the health group at Leidos, which works with every federal agency focused on health. Ben caught up with the former Lockheed Martin executive at the firm’s Reston, Va., headquarters and discussed how the company approaches AI, interoperability and more. This interview has been edited for length and clarity.  What do you see as the strongest use cases for AI?  We've been doing a lot with natural language processing for a long time. I’m a military spouse, and we carried paper records everywhere. When you scan that in, you’re able to use natural language processing to look for information to help index. It’s been applied in the health space not as broadly as it could be. We’ve been working on large language models to augment what humans are doing. Where does it fit into care delivery?  These models and AI can really assist in helping a provider get quicker access to data — being able to leverage that AI capability to pull that data together and bring the salient information. People get nervous when they think about a machine making a determination on your health. But bringing relevant information to the doctor is a great application to help augment what the doctor can do without creating a concern that the machine’s telling you what’s wrong with you. How should AI in health care be regulated? We do have to think about ensuring that whatever is being applied doesn’t have bias. But then you have the other side of it: There’s concern about misinformation happening because of the way AI is trained. How can government facilitate interoperability?  The government has focused on developing standards to encourage interoperability. At the end of the day, it is usually not about the technology. It's about the trust factor of data sharing. It will come down to the general public saying, “Wait a minute, this is my information and I should have an easier time getting it.” Coming into this industry from defense, intelligence and civil, health is probably the furthest behind in that technology evolution.   JOIN 7/27 FOR A TALK ON WOMEN LEADERS IN THE NEW WORKPLACE: In the wake of the pandemic, U.S. lawmakers saw a unique opportunity to address the current childcare system, which has become increasingly unaffordable for millions of Americans, but the initial proposals went nowhere. With the launch of the Congressional Bipartisan Affordable Childcare Caucus in May, there may be a path to make childcare more affordable. Join Women Rule on July 27 to dive into this timely topic and more with featured speakers Rep. Nancy Mace (R-S.C.), Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) and Reshma Saujani, Founder & CEO of Moms First and Founder of Girls Who Code. REGISTER HERE.     WELCOME TO FUTURE PULSE Chappaquiddick Island, Mass. | Erin Schumaker This is where we explore the ideas and innovators shaping health care. Taking the plunge: Next summer's Olympics will feature a sight not seen in Paris in 100 years: swimmers in the River Seine. Sewage and industrial runoff have plagued the river for decades, but thanks to a clean-up effort, Olympic swimming events are now scheduled to take place there, the BBC reports. Come 2025, three river locations will open for public swimming. 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, your host Ben talks with Alice Miranda Ollstein, who explains how the culture wars are playing a prominent role in the appropriations process because Republicans are trying to use government funding bills to advance their agenda on abortion, transgender care and more. Listen to today’s Pulse Check podcast WASHINGTON WATCH A shakeup of the U.S. organ donation system is afoot. | AFP via Getty Images The House votes tonight on bipartisan legislation to overhaul the U.S. organ donation system. Co-sponsored by Reps. Larry Bucshon (R-Ind.) and Robin Kelly (D-Ill.), the bill aims to make the system for matching patients with donated organs more competitive. For the past 40 years, the government has contracted with a single organization, the nonprofit United Network for Organ Sharing. But a Senate Finance Committee investigation into UNOS concluded that "from the top down, the U.S. transplant network is not working, putting Americans’ lives at risk." The report recommended removing barriers to competition and breaking up the existing contract. The bill would authorize the Health Resources and Services Administration to award contracts to multiple bidders and would eliminate the $7 million cap on contracts. It also directs the Government Accountability Office to review the network's financing. The current contract is set to expire on Sept. 30. Why it matters: There are 100,000 Americans on the national waitlist for an organ transplant and at least 17 people die each day waiting for an organ. Black patients are less likely to receive organs than white patients are. Despite the long waitlist, an analysis published in March by the Washington Post and the Markup found that a record 949 donated livers went to waste in 2021. That translates to 1 in 10 donated livers being thrown out. Even so: Not everyone agrees with the proposed fix. Clive Callender, an organ transplant surgeon who founded the National Minority Organ Tissue Transplant Education Program, told Erin that he's concerned about for-profit organizations joining the field. Getting people to donate organs hinges on trust, Callender said, and based on his decades of experience, Callender thinks allowing for-profits into the arena would erode trust with communities of color. The system needs to be improved, he allowed, but losing nonprofit status would be a mistake. "I could care less who runs it. I just want it to be a nonprofit." What's next? Sens. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), Ben Cardin (D-Md.), Todd Young (R-Ind.) and Bill Cassidy (R-La.) have proposed a companion bill.   JOIN 7/26 FOR A TALK ON THE NEW ENERGY ECONOMY: Join POLITICO's lively discussion, "Powering a Clean Energy Economy," on July 26 to explore the effectiveness of consumer-targeted policies to boost sustainability and create clean energy jobs. How are the Inflation Reduction Act's provisions faring? Which strategies truly sway consumer behavior? Hear from featured speaker, Rep. Debbie Dingell (D-Mich.), among other experts. Don't miss this insightful event — register today and be part of the conversation driving America's clean energy future! REGISTER NOW.     CHECKUP Getting help for mental health is a struggle for many. | AFP via Getty Images Mental health and substance use treatment continue to be more difficult to access than physical health care, according to a new survey. The poll of about 2,800 patients conducted by research group NORC on behalf of the Mental Health Treatment and Research Institute found that nearly 3 in 5 patients who sought mental health or substance use treatment couldn’t access it at least once between January 2019 and April 2022. That disparity was even larger for kids and teens. About 2 in 5 people on employer-sponsored insurance had to resort to out-of-network providers for such care, more than double the rate for physical health. The researchers’ report recommended: — Expanding mental health networks and coverage for telehealth services — Better incorporating mental health care into primary care — Enforcing laws requiring health plans to cover mental health as they do physical health Why it matters: The findings come after mental health took a dive during the pandemic and as lawmakers work to boost access. The Biden administration proposed rules Tuesday aimed at ensuring insurers pay their share of the costs of psychological treatment.   Follow us on Twitter Ben Leonard @_BenLeonard_ Ruth Reader @RuthReader Carmen Paun @carmenpaun Erin Schumaker @erinlschumaker Evan Peng @thepngfile   Follow us

To change your alert settings, please log in at https://www.politico.com/_login?base=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.politico.com/settings This email was sent to rouf@idiot.cloudns.cc by: POLITICO, LLC 1000 Wilson Blvd. Arlington, VA, 22209, USA Please click here and follow the steps to unsubscribe.