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Today in health IT, we're discussing the Senate confirming Robert F. Kennedy Jr. As HHS secretary amid controversy. My name is Kate Gamble. I'm managing editor at This Week Health, where we host a set of events and channels dedicated to transforming healthcare, one connection at a time.

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Learn more at ThisWeekHealth. com slash Google Chrome OS. And I'm joined by Sarah Richardson, President of Community Development here at This Week Health. Sarah, welcome to the show and happy Friday! Happy Friday, Kate. So today, we are tackling a significant and controversial development in the U. S.

healthcare landscape. The Senate's confirmation of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as the Secretary of HHS. So this decision has sparked extensive debate due to Kennedy's well known stance on vaccines and public health policies, not to mention his unknown stance on data privacy and cyber security issues. Yeah, this appointment is poised to have some pretty far reaching implications for healthcare policy and administration.

I'm glad we're going to talk about some of the highlights of this appointment, and also start to understand what the significance is going to be for healthcare, for the industry at large, and how, as technologists, we can pay attention to, honestly, what is an ever evolving a landscape that is changing day to day.

It is hard to keep up. We will do our best to help you do that. Exactly. So by now, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. was confirmed as HHS secretary by a narrow Senate vote of 52 to 48. Notably Senator Mitch McConnell, a polio survivor, was the sole Republican to oppose the nomination citing concerns over Kennedy's vaccine skepticism.

We're not that far removed from COVID. And so I think that this is a point that's going to cause a lot of anxiety with people. It's going to cause anxiety for people because even at a dinner this week, I had a conversation with a pediatrician who said, I was never trained per se on how to handle a measles outbreak as a individual scenario.

And now we're starting to see that there are cases and. Groups of parts of the country where kids are having significant measles outbreak. That is not necessarily attributed to RFK, however You're seeing physicians start to have to pay attention to things that they believed in their years of practice and training were Eradicated and are now showing back Up again.

So the tight confirmation on him is underscoring truly the contentious nature of his appointment. There's going to be potential changes and challenges in achieving bipartisan support for upcoming health initiatives. It's going to impact funding and implementation of healthcare. I. T. Initiatives. And of course, when you break it down, because he's the HHS secretary, Kennedy now oversees critical agencies, including the CDC, the FDA, CMS, and the National Institutes of Health.

So I say critical is an understatement considering how much comes from those organizations. And how much of the conversation, once again, we are hearing about. What happens with NIH specifically, are hospitals going to get the funding they need to keep certain programs going, to keep certain research and grants going.

This centralized leadership means that Kennedy's policies and perspectives are going to directly influence a wide array of health regulations and programs sitting in the CIO seat. You have to stay informed about potential shifts in agency guidelines. That could affect compliance requirements and operational standards within your organization.

This is back to that relationship with your, all of your peers in the C suite, truly with your board, with your teams, who has their pulse on all of this. And if you're not already involved in getting policy updates and staying informed on what's happening in Washington. Find the feeds that speak to how you like to receive information beyond what we share on this channel.

Of course, find ways to stay informed. It may be the legal team, it may be the compliance team, it may be somebody else, maybe a partner. Partners are a great way to stay informed as well. Never be afraid to be the one to share the things that you're hearing and seeing within an organization because you may just pick up on a piece that somebody else didn't.

Regardless, make sure these conversations are being had in your organization.

Yeah, that's so important. And it could even be like local chapters of bigger organizations, but yeah, you really just need to stay tuned. And so when you look at Kennedy's confirmation, it has been met with significant concern with public health experts and organizations and critics highlight his history of promoting vaccine misinformation and fear that his leadership may undermine public trust in health initiatives.

And that to me is really alarming because I don't feel like trust was that high to begin with. It may be, to your point, at an all time low, and that skepticism from the medical community could lead to increased scrutiny of HHS directives.

If you're a CIO today, you may need to find that navigating the public and professional trust in the communications from your organization, it could be strained. It could affect the adoption of new technology. It could affect data sharing initiatives. It could affect your relationship with even referring organizations within your own cities.

What I would always caution a leader in any organization is that when there is so much noise surrounding something, allow yourself a quiet space to absorb and process the information in a way that is meaningful and relevant to you so that you can tell the story from how you have. Process and receive the information versus just the hype cycle that can be out there from the 24 hour news feeds, right?

And I think people sometimes say, don't be in an echo chamber, right? You don't want to sit in an echo chamber. So the other area of concern is that there isn't a lot of information about where RFK Jr. stands in terms of privacy and cyber security. So Greg Garcia, who is the executive director of the Health Sector Coordinating Council and someone we've interviewed.

Said our predictions are cloudy about how an RFK junior HHS will handle cybersecurity regulation and policy. And this is important, especially knowing that in the final weeks of the Biden administration, HHS his office for civil rights published a proposed update to HIPAA and the public comments were supposed to be open until March 7th.

So there's really are a lot of questions in the air as to where things are going to go. But so important that C. I. O. S. C. S. O. S. And others really stay on top of what's happening here. When you truly think about the potential erosion of trust and the challenge that it's going to prevent for health care leaders that are tasked with implementing public health, either technologies, initiatives, policies, that security and reliability of your information or your data is even more critical.

in an environment where the public skepticism may be heightened. What are you doing to ensure that your patients feel safe, that your physicians feel safe? When uncertainty is creeping in and you may feel like staying focused is a complete uphill battle, you can anchor back to your why, remind yourself of the core purpose and mission of your organization and What your North Star is, which we hear about often control what you can.

If you can focus on the things that you know you can influence, those small wins are going to keep momentum and confidence building and sustainable within the organization. Sometimes you just need to break it down into the pieces to your point. Don't be an echo chamber. What are the pieces that may have the most relevance to us?

Always be looking for a trusted perspective so that uncertainty is not in the cloud judgment. You want to talk about the ability to have bias come into a conversation. Politics lends a lot of bias to most conversations with people today. How do you take that? Out of the conversation and just talk about what is actually happening, leaning on your mentors and peers for insight and grounding across the continuum.

Also be graceful with one another in these conversations because it's hard to remove your own personal views and perspectives. And if there is the ability to adapt in these organizations and in these spaces, when you stay open. To learning and to refining your approach and all this information when you really allow people to be heard, even if you don't agree, you're going to find common ground on what to do that is best for the patient or your clinicians or your teams or your organization.

I think there's an opportunity here to have healthy discussions. So in summary, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. 's confirmation as HHS secretary. As introduced a complex dynamic into the healthcare system, CIOs and industry leaders need to stay vigilant, adapt to policy changes, and work diligently to maintain public trust in health technologies and initiatives.

No small task. No small task. Stay focused on strategy and planning and a commitment to upholding the integrity. Of what you deliver every day. And by staying informed and being proactive back to the advocacy and where you're receiving and processing information, this is all going to help you be successful in managing the implications.

of this appointment and what is to come. It's a great way to end it. And on a personal note, I am getting ready to head to Vermont this weekend. I'm going to unplug, which I highly recommend anyone unplug, and then get plugged back in. But take that time, if you can, to, have some space away from all this chaos.

And then, when you're ready, we'll be here. We will be here. I'm going to head to Las Vegas to do the rock and roll. 5 and 10K races with some of my industry besties. Nice. I want to see pictures. I want to see times, Absolutely. Best of luck. That sounds great. So that's all for today's discussion.

Join us next time as we continue to explore pivotal developments in healthcare and their impact on industry stakeholders. Sarah, thank you so much for your time as always. Always love being with you, Kate. Remember to share this 📍 podcast with a friend or colleague. Use it as a foundation for daily or weekly discussions on the topics that are relevant to you and the industry.

They can subscribe wherever you listen to podcasts. Thank you for listening and that's all for now.