AI and tech companies have been lobbying US health officials through a Slack workspace run by Medicare agency CMS, KFF Health News reports

A Slack workspace run by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services since August 2025 has given tech and AI companies a direct channel to federal health officials, according to a KFF Health News investigation published October 9 that draws on thousands of Slack messages and recordings. Most of its roughly 1,700 members come from AI companies, digital health startups and investment firms; few are patient advocates, doctors or hospital staff.

The invitation to a February FDA listening session on conversational AI, closed to the public, was posted in the group. Microsoft, Anthropic, OpenAI, Apple and Google were among those invited, and at least 35 industry groups attended. The group and related meetings covered Medicare’s app library, payment for AI services and app access to patient records. Legal experts said the group resembles an advisory panel that would have to meet in public. CMS declined to answer questions about its legality; CMS’s Amy Gleason called it “an open, voluntary technical collaboration.”