(The Center Square) – The health care field agrees: artificial intelligence is already an integral tool being used every day in the industry.<\/p>\n
When and how to regulate it, however, poses challenges that draw a wide variety of perspectives and opinions from experts and legislators.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s where Rep. Arvind Venkat, D-Pittsburgh, has joined the conversation. An emergency room physician, Venkat sits at the intersection of clinical practice and legislation. His bill, House Bill 1925, was the subject of a more than three-hour hearing of the House Communications and Technology committee Monday.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is a very different technology and a very different situation than other developments in health care, and the reason is threefold,\u201d said Venkat. \u201cAI is autonomous. It purports to approach human intelligence and is black box related to its reasoning.\u201d<\/p>\n
Venkat emphasized that because AI is increasingly being entrusted to perform the kind of diagnostic tasks previously exclusive to physicians, it too should be regulated and held accountable. He said it wasn\u2019t about being \u201cpro- or anti-AI.\u201d<\/p>\n
Across several panels, including representatives from public interest groups, the insurance industry, information technologists, hospital administrators, and clinicians themselves, there was a consensus that some form of legislation would be a step forward in an environment where neither the federal nor state governments have made much meaningful progress.<\/p>\n
Several, however, had notes regarding this particular piece of legislation, demonstrating that even if Pennsylvania is ahead of the game, it will likely involve significant reworking and negotiating before the bill becomes acceptable to all parties.<\/p>\n
Central to the conversation is the necessity of \u201ckeeping a human in the loop.\u201d The medical field employs AI for a broad spectrum of uses, almost all of which require some human oversight. From applications that listen to consultations and record notes to those that assist in diagnostics by reading radiology scans, a professional is required to sign off on final decisions.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s here where the insurance industry has run into concerns from its customers.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Representatives from the attorney general\u2019s office said they receive complaints from patients concerned that AI has denied their claims without human consideration. Such claims are difficult to investigate, and many remain skeptical of the industry\u2019s appetite to comply with existing regulations.<\/p>\n
Insurance Commissioner Michael Humphreys said that insurance providers currently operate under the expectation that any claim recommended for denial is reviewed by a professional, where the use of AI fast-tracks the approval process.<\/p>\n
It isn\u2019t the only process that is speeding up in health care. Dr. David Vega, senior vice president and chief medical officer at Wellspan Health, said that the use of AI frees up thousands of hours for staff to attend to their patients. He said that AI\u2019s analysis of more than 200,000 scans saved 900 hours of delays and accelerated life-saving care for over 10,000 patients with invisible critical conditions, such as pulmonary embolisms or brain bleeds.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe marriage of human expertise with technology like AI is improving patient care and outcomes in ways that were unimaginable just a few years ago,\u201d said Vega.<\/p>\n
Vega also pointed out that the use of AI is among the creative solutions needed to address the workforce shortage. He said the technology helped reclaim 4,000 hours for human workers, emphasizing that it\u2019s \u201cnot about replacement.\u201d<\/p>\n
Physicians and nurses agree that there\u2019s hope for a return to patient-focused care when AI assumes the kind of administrative tasks that turn them toward computer screens. Some worry, however, that administrators will use the tools to center profit and cut costs.<\/p>\n
Maureen May, president of the Pennsylvania Association of Staff Nurses and Allied Professionals, said that her organization conducted a survey of its members on the topic.<\/p>\n
\u201cHealth care workers are deeply concerned, profoundly distrustful, and almost entirely shut out of the decisions made out of AI at the bedside,\u201d said May.<\/p>\n
She said 89% of respondents didn\u2019t trust their employers to implement AI responsibly. That\u2019s why the group voiced support for government regulation.<\/p>\n
For legislators, there is a fine line between regulation and overregulation. Some fear that making rules about AI now will prevent future innovation, while others fear that a failure to regulate AI will lead to the kinds of problems wrought by social media\u2019s power going largely unchecked.<\/p>\n
J.B. Branch, artificial intelligence policy expert at Public Citizen, a progressive non-profit advocacy group, called it \u201cbuyer\u2019s remorse\u201d and said the concern about AI crosses demographic groups and political parties.<\/p>\n
President Donald Trump issued an executive order last week that attempted to prohibit states from enacting regulations related to AI. The issue was dropped from July\u2019s budget resolution after pushback from congressional representatives.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd I would hope the federal government would move, but sometimes the states need to move first and maybe the federal government would wake up and do something because right now, there is a lot of willy-nilly that exists because the federal government is lollygagging,\u201d said committee chair Rep. Joe Ciresi, D-Royersford. \u201cThere\u2019s a lot of confusion in AI and a lot of non-trust.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"(The Center Square) – The health care field agrees: artificial intelligence is already an integral tool being used…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":61814,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[338,28,30,29],"class_list":["post-61813","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-pennsylvania","tag-healthcare","tag-pennsylvania","tag-pennsylvania-headlines","tag-pennsylvania-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61813","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=61813"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61813\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/61814"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=61813"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=61813"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=61813"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}