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HHS Secretary Kennedy urges better data sharing, pilots and careful AI use to improve addiction and mental-health care
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Summary
Secretary Kennedy told an HHS convening that better data sharing, telehealth, $20 million in pilot funding and careful use of AI can improve behavioral-health outcomes; he said he signed a new regulation (referred to in the transcript as "40 CFR part 2") to allow certain law-enforcement records to be included in health data when patients consent.
Secretary Kennedy, head of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), told attendees at an HHS convening that technology, expanded telehealth and stronger data sharing can improve care for people with mental illness and substance-use disorders.
Kennedy framed the session around a persistent gap in care: "Care is fragmented. Data is siloed," he said, arguing clinicians frequently make decisions without a complete picture of a patient’s history. He said HHS will "improve coordination, enforce accountability, and align the system around the patient." The secretary added that patients must control access to their records: "Patients should control their own data, who sees it, how it's used, and when, and that's informed consent."
Why it matters: Kennedy said about 50,000,000 Americans struggle with addiction and warned that gaps in record sharing mean new treatment facilities often start without important medical histories. He portrayed improved data flows as both a clinical and safety priority: better information, he said, will lead to better decisions and outcomes.
Policy and regulation: Kennedy said, "Earlier this year, I signed a new regulation, 40 CFR part 2," and explained—using the language in his remarks—that the rule would allow law-enforcement records to be included in health data sets when patients choose to share them. He emphasized that those records "are private" and described consent as the condition for sharing.
Pilots and funding: Kennedy announced a $20,000,000 initiative with the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) and the Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT to launch pilot programs testing data-sharing standards and strengthening integration between behavioral and physical health care. "These pilots will produce the evidence we need to set stronger standards and to refine our policies and scale whatever we find works," he said.
Access and delivery: The secretary highlighted telehealth as already transforming services for rural and underserved communities and said getting care at the moment someone is ready matters: people in recovery move through cycles of readiness and resistance, and timely contact can determine whether they enter treatment.
AI and caution: Kennedy urged careful deployment of artificial intelligence, saying it can "reduce administrative burden, eliminate redundancy, and support clinical decision making so providers can spend less time on paperwork and more time on patients." He added, "Used correctly, these tools will not replace physicians, but they're gonna support them." He also warned that AI is an inflection point with risks and benefits—"it can drive us apart or it can bring us together"—and urged designing systems that promote connection in recovery.
Next steps: Kennedy asked participants to continue sharing ideas and signaled HHS will set standards, remove barriers and support implementation of promising approaches. The convening was produced by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
