FHL Weekly: Investors, Health Policy, & Society
by Robert James Horne & Margaret Wherenberg / Published April 18, 2024
A Consumer Data “Privacy & Rights” Push in Congress Underway
A House Energy and Commerce subcommittee yesterday held a hearing that included consideration of “draft legislation” called the American Privacy Rights Act.
Hearing memo with legislative draft included is here.
The bill would empower the FTC to regulate “consumer data” in ways similar to HIPAA regulation of personal health information. More plainly, it would restrict the use of any data that can be used - or “reasonably” could be used - to identify a person or a device.
A few key details:
What information? ANY information “that identifies or is linked or reasonably linkable to an individual or device.” They use the term “consumer” to define this information, but the language appears to go well beyond simple shopping and consumption.
Who is Covered by the Law? - ANY person or thing (defined as an “entity: in the draft) that determines a 1) purpose and 2) means of collecting, processing, retaining, or transferring covered data (i.e. any data that would identify a person or device) is subject to the FTC Act, including common carriers and certain nonprofits.
Who is Not Covered by the Law? Small businesses, governments, entities working on behalf of governments, the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC), and, except for data security obligations, fraud-fighting companies but only those that are non-profits. If you are a for-profit fraud-fighting company, you would not be covered by the exemption.
A few considerations from Forest Hill Labs:
Purpose of Discussion Draft Legislative Ideas: Congress creates Discussion Drafts when it wants to initiate a public discussion on a new idea and solicit feedback from the public on the most appropriate ways to design legislation. Therefore, consider the discussion draft as a good-faith effort by the Committee and the ideal time to share your thoughts with staff.
Draft Legislation Much Broader than HIPAA Data. Congress mandated the creation of Federal standards to protect the privacy of a person’s medical health now known as HIPAA. The law restricts the sharing and use of this valuable information when medical professionals and their business associates possess it. This is because, among other reasons, personal medical data had been used as the basis to deny employment before the law was enacted. As patients have to give doctors their own medical information in order to be treated, lawmakers saw the need to intervene.
The American Privacy Rights Act covers ANY information that could be used to help identify a person or device. Also, it applies to any person or business (referred to as an entity) that determines the purpose and means for collecting, processing, retaining, or transferring “consumer” data.
The Bill Covers More Than Consumer Data. A person is only a consumer when purchasing goods and services in order to consume them. Therefore, a person is not always a consumer.
The purpose of the draft legislation, as written, is to establish consumer data privacy rights and standards others would use to protect these rights. However, if this bill discussion draft were passed into law as it stands, it would appear to apply to all information that can be used to identify a person or a device. Not just consumer encounters where a person is purchasing goods and services for consumption. A plain reading of the language does not appear to limit this law to data obtained from consumer encounters alone. The Committee clarifying the intent of the bill with regards to scope could help address this confusion and allow stakeholders a better view into the potential implications of the legislation if enacted into law.
Costs May Be Very High. A new privacy standard of this scope and magnitude that covers so much information is bound to be costly. For starters, nearly everyone in America except for the government and small business owners will need to be trained in the new requirements. Let’s use the costs of HIPAA compliance in 2024 as comparison:
“Although there is no consensus of opinion among compliance professionals, the mid-range estimate seems to be between $80,000 and $120,000 depending on whether compliance efforts are mostly in-house (potentially with help from software or consultants) or completely outsourced.
In reality, how much does HIPAA compliance cost in 2024 depends on the size, nature, and distribution of an organization, the degree of compliance with other healthcare regulations, and the resources available to the organization to become HIPAA compliant. Due to these variables, it may cost less for a larger, multi-specialty, multi-location health system to become HIPAA compliant than for a smaller, single-location dental practice.”
Legislation Could Undermine Consumer-Centricity & Artificial Intelligence Use. The opportunity for the average consumer is greater decision-making. Opportunities to make decisions offer people the means to direct more of their preferences into healthcare. Artificial Intelligence is a consumer-friendly tool that allows the average person to take more on. The free labor and support it can give people is tremendous and we expect it will create more opportunities for consumers to exert their preferences via decision-making. This draft seems to take a different approach which is allowing people to require algorithms to take their data out of computations. More on consumer-centricity here.
Federal Trade Commission is the Regulator. As we noted earlier, the claim of consumerism is improper. However, it is also necessary for purposes of committee jurisdiction.
Bottom Line: If you have comments or thoughts of your own on the legislation, get involved. Discussion Drafts are a Congressional ‘Welcome Mat’ for feedback.
Mental Health & Artificial Technology: Recent Developments
A.I. has great potential to solve for many issues in mental health that we all face. As such, I am going to start dedicating more time to laying out the thinking and opportunity in this space.
Let’s delve into some of the latest developments in the field of mental health that involve artificial intelligence (AI):
Therabot: An experimental AI-powered therapeutic app developed by researchers at Dartmouth College aims to improve access to mental health care. In its first clinical trial, Therabot engages with users via text-based conversations. It uses generative AI, similar to the technology behind OpenAI’s ChatGPT, to provide answers and responses. Additionally, it employs another form of AI that learns patterns, allowing it to get to know users and offer personalized advice based on what it has learned. Therabot focuses on anxiety, depression, and eating disorders1.
Woebot and Wysa: These are other AI-based mental health apps. Woebot has served 1.5 million people worldwide and collaborates with interventional scientists and clinicians. Wysa received a Food and Drug Administration Breakthrough Device designation in 2022, speeding up its development and review. However, these apps primarily rely on rules-based AI with preapproved scripts1.
AI for Diagnosis and Treatment: Mental health professionals are increasingly using AI for accurate diagnosis and treatment. Machine learning, a subset of AI, aids in prediction, detection, and treatment in mental health care. It helps address the shortage of mental health professionals and the rising demand for anxiety treatments2.
Digital Phenotyping and Natural Language Processing: AI techniques like digital phenotyping and natural language processing analyze behavioral data and text to gain insights into mental health conditions. These approaches enhance early detection and personalized interventions3.
Remember that while AI can be a valuable tool, it is not a replacement for human therapists. The human touch remains essential in mental health care4
Recent Artificial Intelligence in Mental Health Articles
Acclaimed 60 Minutes Showcases Hard Truths About AI For Mental Health (forbes.com)
Dartmouth researchers look to meld therapy apps with modern AI (nbcnews.com)
Recent articles in the field of Artificial Intelligence in Healthcare this week:
ChatGPT's potential impact on preventative care and emergency visits | Healthcare IT News
Shifting The Healthcare AI Discourse: Embracing Intelligence Assistance (forbes.com)
MITRE, UMass launch health AI assurance lab | Healthcare IT News
OSF HealthCare to create AI training assistants (beckershospitalreview.com)
Atlantic Health System to deploy AI-driven personalized medication management | Healthcare IT News
10 Artificial General Intelligence Companies To Know (forbes.com)
Artificial intelligence to the rescue: Putting humanity in healthcare (mcknights.com)
AI could be the prescription that healthcare systems need so desperately
Nvidia Is Bringing Artificial Intelligence (AI) to the Healthcare Space. Here's How. (msn.com)
AI Expert Adeyinka Mayowa-Majaro Propels Healthcare Revolution (msn.com)
Margaret's Minute
The course of our lives is shaped by our own actions and choices. The rights we enjoy in this country are given to us by American society, and are not guaranteed. American society has a rich history of celebrating the overcoming of adversity, and yet today we seem to be living in a state of perpetual misery.
To hear political leaders and new outlets tell it, there is evil around every corner. Their job is to continuously point it out to you. Much like a bad party guest, however, your choice is whether or not to spend time absorbing their perspectives. When you really think about it, no one needs the news. No one needs to go to a political rally. People choose these things in their life.
And what people are choosing is making them sick. Consider this excerpt from a 2022 National Library of Medicine study:
Large numbers of Americans reported politics takes a significant toll on a range of health markers—everything from stress, loss of sleep, or suicidal thoughts to an inability to stop thinking about politics and making intemperate social media posts. The proportion of Americans reporting these effects stayed stable or slightly increased between the spring of 2017 and the fall of 2020 prior to the presidential election. Deterioration in measures of physical health became detectably worse in the wake of the 2020 election. Those who were young, politically interested, politically engaged, or on the political left were more likely to report negative effects.
If you don’t feel well, it is much more likely that your personal choices are to blame than those of others. So why do we spend so much time blaming others for our troubles? And is doing so making it harder for us to be happy?
I think so.
So, what would happen in life if you today you chose something different? Hard to predict. However, it appears that replacing politics with something less divisive can be one of the best things we do to improve our mental health.
Try changing up your habits related to politics for a week. Read less news. Engage in fewer political discussions. Try practicing grace amidst the faults and failings of others. They are human just like you.