House moves to block state AI laws

The House budget reconciliation bill released this week includes a clause that would ban state and local governments from enforcing laws on AI, even ones that have already been put into effect. As STAT's Brittany Trang reports, this has huge potential implications for states that have already passed laws regarding AI and health insurance, AI-drafted messages from doctors, and mental health chatbots, as well as general AI consumer protection laws that overlap with health care.

CMS and ASTP make broad health tech info request

CMS and ASTP, the health department's health IT regulator, released a request for information this week about existing policies meant to advance IT adoption and what the regulators can do to further promote tech. The questions cover so much territory that they defy simple summary, so here are a handful that jumped out at me:

What can CMS and its partners do to encourage providers, including those in rural areas, to leverage approved digital health products for their patients?
What strategies can CMS implement to support providers in making high-quality, timely, and comprehensive healthcare data available for interoperability in the digital product ecosystem?
How might CMS encourage providers to accept digital identity credentials (for example, CLEAR, ID.me, Login.gov) from patients and their partners instead of proprietary logins that need to be tracked for each provider relationship?
How can CMS encourage providers to submit information blocking complaints to ASTP/ONC's Information Blocking Portal? What would be the impact? Would it advance or negatively impact data exchange?
What short term (in the next 2 years) and longer-term steps can CMS take to stimulate developer interest in building digital health products for Medicare beneficiaries and caregivers?

One might read this document as a comprehensive view of topics regulators hope to work on. Some are already reading mentions of TEFCA to mean that the government has not yet decided to pull its support for the national data sharing framework that some feel is on thin ice. I recently profiled health tech entrepreneur Chris Klomp who is now in charge of Medicare and looking to make big tech changes.

Elsewhere, Abe Sutton, the director of the CMS innovation center, announced a new strategy with a focus on preventive care. There were hints about possible health tech directions including a pledge to "increase beneficiary access to information and tools, including mobile-device applications, for disease management and healthy living."

Industry News

Hims raises $1 billion, Freespira's clearance, and more

Hims raised $1 billion in notes.
Hinge Health is targeting a valuation of nearly $3 billion in its upcoming initial public offering. Its most recent valuation, from 2021, was $6.2 billion, according to PitchBook. The company hopes to raise over $400 million in the offering.
PTSD-treatment device Freespira received an expanded FDA clearance for teens aged 13 to 17. The device and software combo guides users through controlled breathing as a way of reducing stress, and it's indicated as an adjunctive treatment for both PTSD and panic disorder. I profiled Freespira last year.
Headway, the mental health tech company backed by Thrive Capital, Andreessen Horowitz, and others, announced a new solution that allows primary care providers to easily refer patients to Headway for treatment by a behavioral health provider in its network. CEO Andrew Adams told me the company has formal arrangements with over 20 health organizations for the integration.
Oak Street Health executive Ravi Patel posted on LinkedIn that the care provider, and its parent company CVS Health, are making the jump to Epic Systems' medical record. He's hiring someone to help him do it, maybe that's you. (H/T Brendan Keeler)
Speaking of hiring, I just spotted this interesting Apple job posting for a medical affairs specialist for digital health to "spread awareness of our digital health products and scientific approach with the global medical and research communities."

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