WEDI Welcomes Newly Confirmed CMS Administrator Oz. In a letter sent to Dr. Mehmet Oz, Administrator of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), WEDI offered its support and expertise to the agency in creating a new era of efficient, innovative, and effective health care for all. The letter highlighted WEDI’s proven track record of cross-industry collaboration and engagement through its diverse membership, many workgroups, and educational activities. WEDI urged Administrator Oz to utilize our organization’s strengths in addressing the ongoing challenges of reducing burdens associated with administrative processes, automating data flow between providers and health plans, ensuring that consumers have access to information they need to be partners in their care, and safeguarding the privacy and security of health data.
CMS Releases RFI to Reduce Medicare Regulatory Burden, WEDI to Hold MPA. CMS released a Request for Information (RFI) that calls for public input on opportunities to decrease Medicare regulatory burden. The deadline for submitting comments via an online form is June 10, 2025. CMS is seeking information on streamlining regulatory requirements, reducing administrative burden of reporting and documentation, and identifying duplicative requirements. Health care providers, health plans, vendors, researchers, stakeholders, and the public at large are urged to submit comments. To respond to the RFI, WEDI will hold a Member Position Advisory (MPA) event on May 15 from 11am – 2pm ET. This members-only event will focus on addressing the RFI questions and potentially developing additional comments for CMS. Go here to register.
ASTP Releases 2025 SAFER Guides for Use in Improving EHR Safety. The new 2025 Safety Assurance Factors for EHR Resilience (SAFER) Guides were released by the Assistant Secretary of Technology and Policy (ASTP). These Guides enable the safe use of electronic health records (EHR) in health care organizations. The Guides offer recommendations in foundational, infrastructure, and clinical process practices that aim to optimize the safety and safe use of EHRs. The first version of the Guides was released in 2014, with the last version being released in 2016.
OMB Memo Outlines Administration’s Plans to Drive AI Innovation. A memorandum, titled “Accelerating Federal Use of AI through Innovation, Governance, and Public Trust,” was sent by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) to the leadership of Executive Branch departments and agencies implementing Executive Order 1479. The directive emphasizes the need to remove barriers to innovation, accelerate responsible AI adoption, and ensure the use of AI works for all. Agencies are being asked to decrease government restrictions and develop effective policies and processes for the timely deployment of AI.
RFI on Reductions in Federal Regulations, Deadline to Comment May 12. OMB published an RFI in the Federal Register on April 11, 2025, requesting public input on deregulation. The announcement calls for commenters to provide information on rules proposed to be rescinded and detailed reasons for their rescission. Note that the RFI is not aimed specifically at the health care sector and the covers all regulations currently in effect. The deadline for submitted comments is May 12, 2025.
New Senate Bills Introduced Address AI-Enabled Medical Devices and Data Privacy. Senators Mike Rounds (R-SD) and Martin Heinrich (D-NM) recently introduced the Health Tech Investment Act. If enacted, the law would facilitate the use of medical devices enabled with artificial intelligence (AI) for Medicare patients by developing a formalized payment pathway for algorithm-based health care services, improve access to AI-enabled clinical technology, and improve patient outcomes.
The second bill, reintroduced by Sen. Bill Cassidy, MD (R-LA), chair of the Senate HELP Committee, is the Data Elimination and Limiting Extensive Tracking and Exchange (DELETE) Act. The bill is designed to protect Americans' online privacy by providing a process to request deletion of held by data brokers. It would direct the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to create an online dashboard for people to submit a one-time data deletion request that would be sent to all data brokers registered.
Presidential Memo Directs Departments and Agencies to Repeal Unlawful Regulations. A Presidential memo, released on April 9, follows up on Executive Order 14219 (Ensuring Lawful Governance and Implementing the President’s “Department of Government Efficiency” Deregulatory Initiative), signed on February 19. It directs the heads of all departments and agencies to identify both unlawful and potentially unlawful regulations within 60 days and begin plans to repeal them. As well, agency heads are directed to finalize rules without notice and comment, per the “good cause” exception in the Administrative Procedure Act.
CMS’ 2026 Inpatient Payment Rule Proposes Changes to Health IT Provisions. CMS published the proposed 2026 payment rule for hospital inpatient and long-term care hospital prospective payment systems. Included in the proposed rule are proposals for the Medicare Promoting Interoperability Program, which include: 1) Defining the EHR reporting period in CY 2026 and subsequent years; 2) Modifying the Security Risk Analysis measure for eligible hospitals and critical access hospitals; 3) Modifying the SAFER Guides measure; and 4) Adding an optional bonus measure for using the Trusted Exchange Framework and Common Agreement® (TEFCA) under the Public Health and Clinical Data Exchange objective. Proposed rules were also released for 2026 payments for skilled nursing facilities, inpatient rehabilitation, inpatient psychiatry, and hospice.