WASHINGTON — White House officials and executives from more than 60 healthcare and technology organizations pledged to advance a patient-centered digital health ecosystem, committing to improve the secure exchange of medical information and expand consumer-facing tools designed to give patients greater access to their health records.
The commitments were announced during a White House event hosted with the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), where administration officials said the initiative aims to improve interoperability across the U.S. healthcare system while reducing administrative burdens for providers. The participating companies include major technology firms such as Amazon, Anthropic, Apple, Google and OpenAI, alongside healthcare providers, electronic health record vendors and health information networks.
According to CMS, the initiative centers on two priorities: establishing a voluntary interoperability framework to facilitate secure data sharing between patients, providers and healthcare organizations, and expanding digital applications that help individuals manage their care using authorized access to their medical information.
Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said the administration intended to give patients greater control over their medical information by removing barriers to data access. CMS Administrator Dr. Mehmet Oz said the commitments reflected an opportunity to modernize healthcare technology and improve patient and provider experiences through broader adoption of interoperable digital tools.
CMS said 21 health information networks committed to meeting voluntary criteria under a new CMS Interoperability Framework to become "CMS Aligned Networks." Eleven health systems or providers agreed to support patient participation, while seven electronic health record companies pledged to facilitate broader data exchange intended to reduce reliance on paper-based administrative processes. More than 60 organizations also committed to collaborate on delivering results during the first quarter of 2026.
The agency said participating organizations plan to support applications that could help patients manage chronic conditions such as diabetes and obesity, use conversational artificial intelligence assistants to navigate care and schedule appointments, and replace paper intake forms with digital check-in systems. CMS said the applications would rely on secure digital identity credentials and operate through networks meeting the agency's data-sharing standards.
The announcement builds on a joint request for information issued by CMS and the Assistant Secretary for Technology Policy in 2025 seeking recommendations on modernizing the nation's digital health infrastructure. CMS said the consultation generated nearly 1,400 public comments that helped shape the initiative. The agency also said it plans to expand Medicare.gov with a library of approved digital health applications and continue developing infrastructure to improve patient access to claims and provider information through 2026.
