The Beat

How DirectTrust Is Vetting Health Apps, Accrediting AI, and Gaps HIPAA Didn't Address

Episode Summary

In this episode, host Sandy Vance welcomes back Kathryn Ayers Wickenhauser, Chief Strategy Officer at DirectTrust, for her third time on the show. This time the conversation goes deeper than ever, covering three major developments: DirectTrust's role in vetting apps for the new CMS Medicare App Library, the launch of a groundbreaking AI accreditation program built on the NIST AI Risk Management Framework, and the urgent but widely misunderstood gap in HIPAA coverage that leaves millions of consumers thinking their health data is protected when it really isn’t. If you work anywhere in the health tech ecosystem, this episode is essential listening.

Episode Notes

In this episode, host Sandy Vance welcomes back Kathryn Ayers Wickenhauser, Chief Strategy Officer at DirectTrust, for her third time on the show. This time the conversation goes deeper than ever, covering three major developments: DirectTrust's role in vetting apps for the new CMS Medicare App Library, the launch of a groundbreaking AI accreditation program built on the NIST AI Risk Management Framework, and the urgent but widely misunderstood gap in HIPAA coverage that leaves millions of consumers thinking their health data is protected when it really isn’t. If you work anywhere in the health tech ecosystem, this episode is essential listening.

In this episode, they talk about:

• HIPAA only covers covered entities and business associates, meaning most consumer health apps have little obligation to protect your data
• The CMS Medicare App Library is a vetted directory of trusted digital health apps, and DirectTrust is helping validate which apps earn a spot in it
• When CMS moves, the rest of the industry follows, making this app library a trust signal far beyond Medicare beneficiaries
• DirectTrust's AI accreditation program is built on the NIST AI Risk Management Framework and assessed by independent third-party reviewers
• The program will offer two tiers: a foundational version for organizations early in their AI journey and a comprehensive version for those with greater maturity
• The four pillars of the AI accreditation program are governance, management, mapping, and measurement
• AI is unlike any other technology implementation because it touches every aspect of an organization simultaneously
• DirectTrust's annual conference is October 20th and 21st in Kansas City at the Oracle Innovations Campus

A Little About Kathryn:

Kathryn Ayers Wickenhauser, MBA, FACHDM, CHPC, is Chief Strategy Officer at DirectTrust®, the national non-profit alliance and accreditor building trust in healthcare technology and secure information exchange. With nearly two decades of advancing interoperability, identity, privacy, and technical trust, she leads community engagement, communications, and strategic partnerships, shaping national standards and policy. Kathryn is a recognized thought leader featured in outlets like Healthcare IT Today and Health IT Answers, and under her leadership, DirectTrust has earned multiple HITMC awards, including Marketing Team of the Year in 2025. She has been named among the Top 50 Women Chief Strategy Officers and Becker’s 100 Women in Health IT to Know.