PHILADELPHIA
Donald Trump
Will Philly-area emergency rooms have to share your personal data?
Kaitlyn McCormickUSA TODAY NETWORK
July 30, 2026, 11:27 a.m. ET
The Trump administration could be seeking emergency room medical records from hospitals across the country — are Philadelphia hospitals included?
Investigated by KFF Health News, the administration’s Consumer Product Safety Commission is looking at emergency rooms in some prominent U.S. health systems to fork over “detailed, personally identifiable medical records” of patients to private contractor KONZA Health
The CPSC, a small team tasked with issuing recalls and tracking dangers related to U.S. products, has allegedly already began pressuring hospital executives, KFF Health News reported, causing raised eyebrows amongst hospital lawyers and executives
The investigation goes on to further explain that the CPSC’s data demands include emergency room records from a wide berth of ailments, including past suicide attempts, broken bones or even vaccination reactions, as well as identifiable information
On April 15, the CPSC shared more information about its existing voluntary National Electronic Injury Surveillance System and partnership with KONZA Health to electronically collect data
On July 21, the CPSC announced changes to the NEISS to POLITICO, including the system automatically pulling information and data from electronic health records
The announcement, posted to the CPSC website on July 22, references the upgrade as NEISS-Remodel or, simply, NEISS-R
According to the CPSC, data collected will go through de-identification before reaching the commission, thoughed concern that private information would be collected in the first place
What is KONZA Health?
KONZA Health, rooted in Kansas, is a “national health data and interoperability organization transforming information into action” according to its website
Will Philly-area hospitals have to provide ER docs, patient info to KONZA Health?
While the CPSC release, nor the KFF Investigation, include a list of impacted hospital systems included in the remodel, which is intended to be fully effective by 2027, the NEISS-R is expected to have nationwide coverage
This is a difference from previous NEISS coverage of about 70 of the country’s more than 5,000 hospital ERs
So, while the participation of Philadelphia hospitals isn’t confirmed, it is a potential outcome
Kaitlyn McCormick is a Philadelphia-based reporter writing all things trending, breaking and city-related for USA TODAY’s Philadelphia Metro Connect Team
