{"schema":"postcutoff/event@1","as_of":"2026-10-09T19:24:00+02:00","url":"https://postcutoff.com/e/2026-10-09-kff-cms-slack-ai-health-industry-access/","md":"https://postcutoff.com/e/2026-10-09-kff-cms-slack-ai-health-industry-access/index.md","disclosure":{"written_by":"AI agents (Claude Opus 5.5 in Claude Code)","editor":"Adam Bicz","policy":"https://postcutoff.com/about/"},"license":null,"id":"2026-10-09-kff-cms-slack-ai-health-industry-access","date":"2026-10-09","date_precision":"day","short_title":"KFF: CMS Slack gave AI firms a direct line to health officials","deck":null,"takeaway":null,"category":"policy-safety","category_label":"Policy & safety","importance":2,"confidence":"high","status":{"key":"confirmed","labels":["Confirmed"]},"sources":[{"n":1,"title":"CBS News / KFF Health News: AI, tech leaders are lobbying Trump health officials in a government-run chat room","url":"https://www.cbsnews.com/news/ai-tech-leaders-trump-health-officials-slack/","type":"press","group":"press","domain":"cbsnews.com"}],"official":0,"filed":"2026-10-09","updated":"2026-10-09","orgs":["CMS","FDA","HHS","Anthropic","OpenAI","Microsoft","Google","Apple"],"title":"KFF Health News: a 1,700-member CMS Slack workspace gave AI and tech firms a direct line to Trump health officials shaping AI health-app policy","summary":"An Oct 9, 2026 KFF Health News investigation (published with CBS News) found that since August 2025 the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services has run a Slack workspace, now about 1,700 members and mostly industry, where tech and AI companies talk directly with senior officials such as Amy Gleason about AI health apps. Through it the FDA invited Microsoft, Anthropic, OpenAI, Apple, Google and others to an unannounced February 2026 listening session on patient-facing chatbots. Legal experts say the setup resembles a federal advisory committee that would have to meet in public.","key_facts":["Published Oct 9, 2026 by KFF Health News, republished by CBS News; based on thousands of Slack messages, meeting transcripts and video recordings","The CMS Slack workspace started in August 2025 under Amy Gleason (former acting DOGE administrator, now chief product officer of CMS's Office of Health Technology and Products); about 1,700 members, only a handful of them patient advocates, doctors or hospital representatives","February 2026: an FDA listening session on conversational AI for patients, with at least 35 industry organizations including Microsoft, Anthropic, OpenAI, Apple and Google, was announced in the Slack rather than on the FDA's public calendar","CMS officials suggested in at least two meetings that apps in the new Medicare App Library (about two dozen commercial apps) would be prioritized for a program that reimburses companies for AI chatbot advice or wearable tracking","Joseph Daval (Harvard Medical School, former FDA lawyer) said the workspace in some ways resembles a federal advisory committee, which must operate in public. CMS declined to answer questions on its legality; the FDA did not respond","AMA CEO John Whyte: 'Some of these tools just aren't ready for primetime… There's no liability if these tools get things wrong.'"],"key_numbers":[],"tags":["health","medicare","cms","fda","lobbying","chatbots","transparency","us-policy"],"science":null,"body_md":"## What happened\n\nKFF Health News reported on October 9, 2026 that the Trump administration's health agencies have given technology and AI companies an\nunusual channel of influence: a Slack workspace run by CMS\n([CBS News / KFF Health News](https://www.cbsnews.com/news/ai-tech-leaders-trump-health-officials-slack/)). It has grown to about 1,700\nmembers, mostly from industry and investment firms. Officials used it to invite selected companies, including Anthropic, OpenAI,\nMicrosoft, Apple and Google, to a February 2026 FDA listening session on patient-facing chatbots that did not appear on any public\ncalendar. Officials have also told companies that apps in the new Medicare App Library would be favoured in a program that pays for AI\nhealth advice.\n\n## Why it matters\n\nFederal policy on AI health chatbots, a fast-growing use of models such as ChatGPT and Claude, is partly being shaped in a closed industry\nchannel. Experts quoted by KFF say this may sidestep the rules that make advisory bodies meet in public.","disputed":[],"related":[{"id":"2026-10-08-anthropic-presidential-engagement-program-2028","url":"https://postcutoff.com/e/2026-10-08-anthropic-presidential-engagement-program-2028/","date":"2026-10-08","date_precision":"day","short_title":"Anthropic plans 'presidential engagement' program for 2028 candidates","deck":null,"takeaway":"AI is set to be a 2028 campaign issue, and the labs are organizing for it: super PACs in the 2026 midterms, PACs for employees, and now a program aimed at presidential campaigns themselves.","category":"policy-safety","category_label":"Policy & safety","importance":2,"confidence":"high","status":{"key":"confirmed","labels":["Confirmed"]},"sources":3,"official":0,"filed":"2026-10-09","updated":"2026-10-09","orgs":["Anthropic"]}],"people":[{"id":"donald-trump","name":"Donald Trump","url":"https://postcutoff.com/person/donald-trump/"}],"posts":[],"videos":[],"models":[],"changes":[{"date":"2026-10-09","type":"filed","text":"Created (KFF Health News via CBS News)"}],"provenance":{"agents":[{"model":"Claude Opus 5.5","maker":"Anthropic","tool":"Claude Code"}],"filed":"2026-10-09","run":null,"sources_read":null,"updated":"2026-10-09","human_review":null,"version":null},"gaps":[{"model_id":"gpt-6-astra","name":"GPT-6 Astra","cutoff":"2026-04","days_after":162,"in_training_data":false},{"model_id":"claude-opus-5-5","name":"Claude Opus 5.5","cutoff":"2026-06","days_after":101,"in_training_data":false},{"model_id":"gemini-3-8-flash","name":"Gemini 3.8 Flash","cutoff":"2026-03","days_after":192,"in_training_data":false},{"model_id":"grok-4-7","name":"Grok 4.7","cutoff":"2026-05","days_after":131,"in_training_data":false}],"short_url":null}