Trump Administration’s Health Data Limitations Could Hamper Disease Control, Experts Warn

TL/DR –

Medical experts have warned that the Trump administration’s move to limit access to federal healthcare data could hinder efforts to combat emerging infectious diseases and chronic health conditions. Large-scale health surveys, indices, and dashboards were removed in compliance with executive orders concerning sex, gender, diversity, equity, inclusion, and foreign aid. Experts warn that without access to this data, tracking and responding to disease outbreaks and chronic health conditions becomes more challenging, which could lead to poor health policies and diminished trust in the U.S. healthcare system.

Impact of Limiting Access to Federal Health Data

The Trump administration’s decision to limit access to federal healthcare data could hinder the country’s ability to tackle emerging infectious diseases and chronic health conditions, warn medical experts. This move took effect in January as federal agencies deleted healthcare data from their websites to align with Trump’s executive orders on sex and gender, diversity, equity, and inclusion, and foreign aid.

These alterations led to many large-scale national health surveys, indices, and dashboards going offline on Jan. 31, impacting research, policymaking, and medical decision-making. After a lawsuit by Doctors for America, U.S. District Judge John Bates on Feb. 11 directed the Trump administration to reinstate certain data on HHS, CDC, and FDA websites.

Doctors for America stated that the executive orders had hampered a physician’s ability to respond to a chlamydia outbreak. The health data purge also restricted access to key tools used to respond to infectious diseases, such as AtlasPlus, a tool relied upon by public health professionals to respond to disease outbreaks.

Infectious Disease Control and Chronic Conditions

With infectious disease-related data being “siloed” across states, it would be challenging to identify the source of outbreaks, like the ongoing tuberculosis outbreak in Kansas or the measles outbreak in Texas.

Moreover, temporary removal of access to the CDC’sBehavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System and the Youth Risk Behavior Survey has affected understanding of health issues in low-population states and rural areas. Without precise information about who is getting sick and where, it could be increasingly difficult for providers and payers to improve health outcomes and lower costs.

Trust in Healthcare and Policy Implications

Experts fear that limiting the type and quantity of health-related data collected by federal agencies might lead to worse health policies and diminish trust in the U.S. healthcare system. Political bias could be baked in from the start if certain data are not collected or shared for ideological reasons.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, the first Trump administration directed health systems to report COVID cases and intensive care unit capacities to a private company instead of the CDC. This led to a loss of real-time COVID data and widespread confusion. Further politicizing health-related data could cause lasting, potentially irreversible damage to the trust in the healthcare system.

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