States Rush to Regulate AI in Healthcare
Senior Public Affairs Advisor Sarah Starling Crossan was quoted in a Washington Post Intelligence report on the push from states to regulate the use of artificial intelligence (AI) in healthcare and the growing tension between federal policymakers and state legislators in this area. Ms. Crossan observed that "state legislative activity around healthcare and AI has accelerated noticeably" – according to the National Conference of State Legislatures, at least 43 states have introduced bills – as emerging technologies deploy at a rapid clip and regulators struggle to enact guardrails at the same pace. She added that patient harm, discrimination and transparency are areas of focus for state legislators, alongside health insurance and mental health, especially when it comes to chatbots and the use of AI for diagnosis and care decisions. With Congress unlikely to agree on major AI legislation, she traced two potential routes: smaller bills addressing particular issues or a more generalized package proposed during a lame duck session.
"Any meaningful healthcare or AI legislation will likely be punted into an end-of-year package rather than moved on its own," she explained. "That reality makes it especially important to watch whether Congress is able to coalesce around narrow, targeted bills focused on healthcare-specific issues such as health data governance or healthcare delivery – or if they put together a broader, industry-agnostic AI governance approach" in an expected lame duck congressional session.
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