Trump administration seeks millions of ER records for consumer safety database

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The Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) is best known for protecting consumers from dangerous products – like children’s clothing that fails federal standards or dressers that can tip over. Now, it’s taking on a new role. The Trump administration is demanding that some of the nation’s biggest hospitals turn over patient records.

The CPSC has requested that hospitals nationwide share personally identifiable information with a third-party private contractor. They’re specifically collecting records from emergency room visits.

What the CPSC wants

The CPSC is seeking millions of Americans’ medical records from emergency room visits for most injuries, according to a new report from KFF. That includes everything from broken bones to vaccine reactions and even attempted suicide, according to documents and emails obtained by KFF Health News.

A CPSC official told KFF hospitals are required to provide identifiable information for all ER patients, including their names, addresses, diagnoses, and other personal details. The information is to be handed over to the contractor, Konza Health, for analysis.

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Emergency rooms in the U.S. see about 43.5 million injury-related visits every year, according to the CDC.

This appears to depart from CPSC’s own operating manual, which tells hospitals not to include identifiable information “such as names, birthdates, or addresses” when reporting most cases. The agency usually only requires patients’ identifying information if needed for follow-up investigations – which account for fewer than 1% of reported cases, according to the manual.

The CPSC’s authority typically applies only to certain consumer products, according to the manual. Konza Health President and CEO Laura McCrary told KFF the company would give the CPSC records when a patient is treated in the ER for more than 10,000 conditions, including injuries that do not involve consumer products.

McCrary said Konza will remove patients’ names, addresses, and medical information “not needed by CPSC” before sharing records with the agency, according to KFF.

An internal memo from the CPSC says the agency expects at least 100 hospitals to start sharing this information by the end of the year.

Health officials raise concerns

Some health officials say sharing patients’ identifiable information could violate privacy laws. “The whole thing is troubling,” said Sharona Hoffman, a professor of health law at Case Western Reserve University told KFF. “If this company really is collecting identifiable information, that is worrisome for patients.”

Susan Gregg, a spokesperson for Harborview Medical Center, told KFF it has “voluntarily submitted de-identified data for many years, but we are not obligated to report this information.”

Mass General Brigham in Boston said it declined to participate in the new program. Spokesperson Kelly Mitchell said, “To protect patient privacy, we are unable to provide these medical records.”

“They want to suck in as much data as possible, but I’m not sure how thoughtful they’re being about what is collected and what is actually needed by the agency,” former CPSC chair Alexander Hoehn-Saric told KFF.

Hoehn-Saric is one of three Democratic appointees who was fired last year by President Donald Trump.

The CPSC also did not publicly announce the change, despite federal law requiring it to provide notice and a public comment period before requesting information from 10 or more entities. KFF confirmed more than a dozen hospitals had been approached already.

The CPSC said hospitals can request an exemption if they don’t want to share patients’ records with Konza.

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