Democrats Demand Trump Administration Halt Collection of Patients’ ER Records
Senate and House Democrats say the Trump administration’s plan to collect patients’ medical data violates privacy and will discourage people from seeking medical care.
A coalition of Democratic legislators is urging the Trump administration to put a halt to a newly initiated surveillance program aimed at gathering personal and identifiable health data from Americans who visit emergency rooms. The Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC), a federal agency responsible for monitoring injuries from household items, is pressuring hospitals to hand over private health information for analysis by a private company.
The program, known as NEISS-R, seeks to collect millions of Americans' medical records from emergency rooms for a wide range of injuries, even those not involving consumer products, according to internal emails and documents reviewed by KFF Health News. This extensive data collection significantly exceeds the CPSC's statute and poses a risk of misuse by an administration known for its aggressive data collection practices.
In a letter to CPSC Acting Chairman Peter Feldman, Senators Ed Markey and Richard Blumenthal, and House Democrats Jan Schakowsky and Ron Wyden, among others, expressed deep concern over the program's scope and potential for misuse. The letter stated that the effort to collect identifiable patient data is not in line with the CPSC's mission and authority, and raises serious privacy concerns.
CPSC spokesperson Steve Roney did not address the letter directly, stating that the agency will respond through appropriate channels. The CPSC's move to collect such extensive data follows other recent instances of broad medical record acquisitions by federal agencies, such as the Office of Personnel Management requesting sensitive health information from federal workers and Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. deputizing private organizations to collect medical records for vaccine and autism studies.
The CPSC previously operated a voluntary program with minimal data collection, but this new initiative has been rebranded as NEISS-R and now requires hospital participation, with penalties for non-compliance. The Democrats' letter emphasizes the abrupt changes made to the program and the lack of transparency in the agency's justifications, calling for a response from the CPSC by September 18.
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