The Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) has maintained the National Electronic Injury Surveillance System (NEISS), an important injury surveillance and follow-back system, for almost 50 years. However, recent reporting about efforts to modernize the system is raising serious consumer protection and health privacy concerns. 

Congress created CPSC in 1972 as an independent federal agency with a mission to protect the public against unreasonable risks of injury or death from consumer products. The CPSC is a small agency with a large, important mission. One of the mechanisms by which CPSC protects the American public from unreasonable risks associated with consumer products is through the collection of data on consumer product-related injuries. Specifically, NEISS injury data is collected from the emergency departments of a nationally representative sample of U.S. hospitals with emergency departments. This information is then used, in conjunction with other CPSC sources, to set priorities for additional study, product recalls, public awareness campaigns, and product safety standards. CPSC has also used NEISS to assist other federal agencies. For example, in 2000, CPSC, in partnership with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), expanded NEISS to collect data on all injuries. This expanded system was called the NEISS All Injury Program (NEISS-AIP). Unfortunately, the NEISS-AIP system was abruptly shut down last year, amid chaotic reductions-in-force and CDC budget cuts.  

To understand recent reports about changes to NEISS, it is critical to understand how NEISS currently operates at the hospitals with which CPSC partners. Currently, an emergency department staff member enters information into a patient’s medical record concerning the reported injury. Then, a NEISS hospital coordinator reviews all the emergency department records for that day and selects records that meet NEISS inclusion criteria. The NEISS coordinator inputs pertinent data and transcribes it into coded form, pursuant to the NEISS Coding Manual. The NEISS coordinator will also assign a product code to identify the product and/or recreational activity associated with the injury. As an example on its website, CPSC says “if a lawn mower were involved in an injury, the coordinator would use a different product code for a walk-behind mower than for a riding mower.” The NEISS Coordinator will code important data, such as age, and provide a brief narrative of the accident. After the information is entered and transmitted to the CPSC, eligible cases are incorporated into the NEISS database. Sometimes follow-back investigations are needed. These interviews will provide more information about the causes of the incident, the product, or other critical data points.  

NEISS has served its purpose well and is a model for such systems around the world. Consumer Federation of America (CFA) has long supported NEISS as a vital tool in the CPSC’s mission to protect the American public from dangerous products. CFA has also long called on the CPSC to improve and expand NEISS, submitting comments in 2025 suggesting the agency enhance the system.

What do we know about efforts to modernize NEISS? 

The CPSC has announced an update to the system, titled NEISS-R, with the “R” standing for remodel, but information from the agency has been anemic. In a speech to the toy industry in February 2026, CPSC Acting Chairman Peter Feldman stated:

We are investing in data, analytics, and AI-enabled tools to improve injury surveillance, accelerate decision-making, and provide clearer guidance to industry. 

We are modernizing the National Electronic Injury Surveillance System, or NEISS, by investing in AI-enabled workflows that improve the quality and quantity of injury surveillance data, while also building up agency digital infrastructure to handle a massive new volume of electronic health records.

On July 22, 2026, the CPSC put out a statement about its “modernization” efforts but offered no concrete information. The statement provides that NEISS-R will expand the surveillance network across all 50 states, adding hospitals in Alaska, Hawaii, the Mountain West, and northern states that were not previously represented or were underrepresented. It also states that NEISS-R will leverage “modern technology,” and that it will exchange data through a federally designed Qualified Health Information Network, “supported by contractual privacy requirements and standardized security safeguards.”   

This statement was quickly followed by concerning reporting on July 27, 2026. KFF Health News reported that the CPSC “began discreetly pressuring hospital executives this year to share personally identifiable health data with a private contractor.” In emails, a CPSC official called on the hospitals to “provide all ER patients’ identifiable information — such as names, addresses, diagnoses, and other personal details — to the contractor, Konza Health, for analysis” and indicated that hospital participation was required. According to the reporting, Konza Health, the private contractor, is also seeking information about child injuries resulting from “poisoning by” vaccines, as well as contact with stingrays. CPSC does not regulate vaccines. Unsurprisingly, this move has been met with questions and criticism from some hospital lawyers and other experts.

How does this fit with everything else we’ve seen from the CPSC recently? 

Unfortunately, this news comes on the heels of many changes and challenges facing the CPSC in the second term of President Donald Trump. President Trump fired the three Democratic, Senate-confirmed CPSC Commissioners without cause. President Trump has now nominated Brien Lorenze—the current CPSC Executive Director—and Karen Sessions to the Commission. Previously, Mr. Lorenze was brought into the CPSC as its Executive Director to “leverage technology to make [the CPSC] work more effective and more efficient.”   

CFA, National Consumers League, and 29 other stakeholders oppose the confirmation of Mr. Lorenze and Ms. Sessions. As our recent letter indicates, the agency's historic independence has buffered the commissioners from political pressure from the White House and large donors. This has ensured that the agency has acted with transparency and a diversity of views, greatly benefiting the American people.  However, with the removal of the three Democratic, Senate-confirmed CPSC commissioners without cause and President Trump’s nomination of two individuals from his own political party, CFA is concerned about the silencing of experts and other voices with whom the President politically disagrees or who may not serve his financial interests. This is particularly troubling given the conflict of interest created by the President’s financial stake, and those of his family and supporters, in consumer products that the CPSC regulates, such as accessories, watches, and home goods. 

Additionally, as a KFF Health News’ analysis reveals, 1 in 5 career staffers left the CPSC in the first 16 months of Trump’s second term. For an already small agency, these numbers are deeply concerning and suggest behind-the-scenes challenges that threaten the agency’s mission.

Where does the CPSC go from here?  

NEISS can be a gold-star standard worldwide while also needing updates and modernization to protect consumers in an evolving marketplace. However, recent news about the CPSC highlights real privacy concerns and may undermine confidence in the agency’s work. What this news suggests is a CPSC so eager to embrace all things AI and “efficiency,” that the agency is not adequately managing its rollout. At the same time, the agency appears to be alienating its partners in the medical community and allowing a private contractor unprecedented access to sensitive patient information. CPSC needs to get the NEISS modernization right. It can only do so with transparency and an emphasis on data quality and privacy.