Democrats Urge Trump-Era CPSC to Stop Broad Emergency-Room Data Collection

Democratic senators and representatives, including Ed Markey, Richard Blumenthal, Jan Schakowsky and Ron Wyden, wrote to CPSC acting chairman Peter Feldman urging an immediate stop to a covert data-gathering initiative that forces hospitals to submit identifiable emergency-room records for more than 10,000 injury categories. The Consumer Product Safety Commission, traditionally limited to consumer-product injury reporting through its voluntary NEISS program, rebranded the effort as NEISS-R and mandated participation, sending the data to Kansas-based firm Konza Health under a five-year, up-to-$15.9 million contract.

Emails show hospitals were told they must apply for exemptions or face penalties tied to “information-blocking” rules, a claim the agency later removed from its public page. The American Hospital Association has protested the program’s breadth, and CPSC spokesperson Steve Roney declined to comment further. Democrats argue the collection is untethered from the agency’s statutory authority and could be exploited for political purposes, requesting a response by Sept. 18.