White House and CMS tap Amazon, Apple, Google and other tech giants to drive patient-centered digital health initiative

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The Trump administration is betting big on Silicon Valley to help reinvent the patient experience.

At a White House event Wednesday, top health officials and executives from tech and health care companies pledged to build a next-generation digital health ecosystem aimed at easing physician burden and giving patients unprecedented control over their medical data.

More than 60 companies — including tech giants like Amazon, Apple, Google, OpenAI and Anthropic — agreed to support the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services’ (CMS) new interoperability framework, the backbone of a broader “Health Tech Ecosystem” initiative.

The effort promises to eliminate paper intake forms, enable seamless data exchange and deploy personalized digital tools to improve health outcomes.

“For decades, bureaucrats and entrenched interests buried health data and blocked patients from taking control of their health,” Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said at the event. “That ends today. We’re tearing down digital walls, returning power to patients and rebuilding a health system that serves the people. This is how we begin to Make America Healthy Again.”

Interoperability framework targets 2026 rollout

CMS Administrator Mehmet Oz, M.D., said the agency’s voluntary Interoperability Framework will serve as a blueprint for modern data sharing across electronic health record (EHR) systems, health information networks and patient-facing apps.

Companies that meet the criteria will be recognized as “CMS Aligned Networks.” The first designations are expected in early 2026.

Participating EHR vendors, including Epic, athenahealth and eClinicalWorks, have pledged to support secure, real-time data exchange using FHIR APIs and to replace traditional clipboards with digital check-in tools.

Eleven health systems — among them Intermountain Health and Cleveland Clinic — also committed to enabling patient use of CMS Aligned Networks.

“We have the tools and information available now to empower patients to improve their outcomes and their health care experience,” Oz said. “For too long, patients in this country have been burdened with a health care system that has not kept pace with the disruptive innovations that have transformed nearly every other sector of our economy. With the commitments made by these entrepreneurial companies today, we stand ready for a paradigm shift in the U.S. health care system for the benefit of patients and providers.”

Apps to manage disease and “kill the clipboard”

More than 30 companies are developing patient-facing apps to integrate with CMS Aligned Networks. These tools are designed to help manage chronic conditions like diabetes and obesity, guide patients with conversational artificial intelligence (AI) assistants and eliminate redundant paperwork.

Companies including Apple, Google, Samsung and CVS Health pledged to offer QR code or Smart Health Card-based check-in tools to streamline patient intake. Others, like Noom and Welldoc, plan to deliver personalized chronic condition management powered by real-time health data.

Paula M. Stannard, director of the HHS Office for Civil Rights, emphasized that privacy remains a top priority.

“OCR supports actions that improve the timeliness in providing individuals with access to their electronic protected health information, without sacrificing health information privacy and security,” she said.

Modern tools for Medicare beneficiaries

CMS also announced upgrades to its own digital offerings:

• Enhanced Plan Finder: A redesigned Medicare Plan Finder will make it easier for beneficiaries to select plans with preferred providers and hospitals.
• National Provider Directory: A new FHIR-based API to improve provider searches and network transparency.
• Modern Digital Identity: Medicare.gov will adopt stronger, simpler identity verification without requiring multiple logins.
• Faster Blue Button Data: Claim data will be accessible more quickly, with digital insurance cards expected to roll out later this year.

Industry watch: A business opportunity for practices

While the initiative is framed as patient-focused, the shift has implications for private practices and physician groups, too.

EHR vendors and health systems aligning with CMS will likely accelerate expectations for digital connectivity, potentially reducing administrative workloads for practices able to integrate with new tools.

The first wave of CMS Aligned Networks is expected to launch in the first quarter of 2026. If successful, the ecosystem could signal the long-promised move from fragmented, paper-bound care to a fully connected, patient-driven health care system.