Democratic Lawmakers Urge Halt on Federal Program Collecting Emergency Room Patient Data

A coalition of Democratic lawmakers is urging the Trump administration to temporarily halt a newly launched federal operation that seeks to compile the personal and identifiers information of millions of Americans who are treated in emergency departments.

Under the Centers for Consumer Product Safety (CPSC), the program—originally known as the National Electronic Injury Surveillance System (NEISS) and now rebranded as NEISS‑R—invites participating hospitals to submit detailed patient data for a privately held analytics firm called Konza Health. The initiative expands dramatically beyond its original focus, targeting more than 10,000 types of injuries ranging from vaccine reactions to suicide attempts, even when consumer products are not involved in the incident.

Internal communications obtained by KFF Health News show that the agency has pressured facilities toward mandatory participation and threatened “information‑blocking” sanctions for non‑compliant institutions. A senior Democrat signed a formal request to CPSC acting Chair Peter Feldman warning that the sweep of medical records exceeds the commission’s statutory mandate and could be misused for political purposes, insisting that patients should receive care without fear of their health information being repurposed in a federal database.

Legislators such as Sen. Ed Markey, Sen. Richard Blumenthal, Rep. Jan Schakowsky, and Sen. Ron Wyden emphasized the urgency of reversing the program and called for transparent oversight.

While the CPSC defends the initiative as a voluntary collaboration, critics argue the agency has sidestepped existing regulations and lacked a publicly disclosed plan for its data‑gathering scope. Recent moves by the commission—removing references to “information‑blocking” penalties from its online materials—have intensified calls for immediate cessation.

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