(The Center Square) – As Pennsylvania lawmakers seek to play an active role in the rapid development of artificial intelligence, a bill has been introduced in the General Assembly that takes a variety of approaches.
This week, Sen. Nick Pisciotano (D-Monroeville) joined a bipartisan effort launched in the House of Representatives to build guardrails for AI in health care.
The main purpose of this bill is to require transparency from healthcare providers about when and how AI is used throughout the healthcare process. This requires what the industry calls “stakeholders” to evaluate care and make final decisions.
“As AI becomes a bigger part of our daily lives, we must ensure that we do not become overly reliant on it in our health care system,” said Rep. Joe Hogan (R-Pendelle), a co-sponsor of a companion bill in the House. “This legislation ensures that the human element remains in life and death decisions.”
This bill was introduced several years after AI solutions first entered the medical field. However, new advances have quickly brought this technology to prominence.
At an AI Horizons panel in Pittsburgh, Ian Blunt, vice president of data and analytics at Highmark Health, said predictive models have been used to great effect for decades.
“For people who have truly extreme medical needs, we can predict that those needs will be met six months in advance in more than 80 percent of cases,” Blunt said.
The House effort is being led by Rep. Arvind Venkat, a Pittsburgh Democrat. In addition to emergency physician Venkat, the bill has received support from other medical experts in Congress. Rep. Tariq Khan (D-Philadelphia) is a nurse, Rep. Bridget Kosielowski (D-Scranton) is a former nurse, and Rep. Greg Scott (D-Norristown) is an EMT.
“While AI certainly has the ability to improve all aspects of human life, including the medical field, it should not replace the expertise and judgment of medical clinicians,” Scott said. “I embrace technology and use it every day, but as a paramedic, I know firsthand that understanding a person’s medical history and needs requires a human element that computer algorithms can’t fully understand. I hope this bipartisan effort creates a framework that supports innovation without sacrificing lives.”
One aspect of this law would require doctors and hospitals to ensure that the technology they use complies with the same laws that prohibit bias and discrimination. Providers will be expected to provide evidence that their technology is compliant with the Department of Health or Department of Insurance.
“It’s bad enough to get an unfair denial from an insurance company, but knowing that an AI is making the decisions instead of a human is outrageous,” Khan said. “I am proud to work with Dr. Venkat and other members of Congress on this bipartisan bill to help patients regain access to their care.”
AI proponents say the tool can actually be used to do just that. Cardiologist and entrepreneur Shiv Rao says his Abridge program can monitor conversations between doctors and patients, prompting doctors to ask the right questions to get insurance approval, reducing the time and burden of interacting with health care providers.
Here, lawmakers must thread the needle between protecting their constituents and creating space for innovations that could profoundly change the health landscape.
“What I’m looking for as a professional, as a doctor, is more agency. I need 30 hours a day to get all my work done, and I’m not able to provide the kind of care and care experience that I wanted,” Rao said. “So if AI can create more agency for people, then we’re doing it right, and I think that’s the opportunity we have in front of us.”
