Roughly 36 percent of Americans are enrolled in Medicare or Medicaid, meaning their sensitive data could be targeted.

Federal health agencies will create a database of autism patients enrolled in Medicare and Medicaid that researchers will use to study the causes of autism spectrum disorder, U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F.

Federal public health agencies announced on Wednesday the start of a pilot program to share Medicare and Medicaid data with the National Institutes of Health to tackle chronic diseases, starting with autism.