Artificial intelligence has high expectations for medicine. AI-driven tools can have more accurate diagnosis, personalized treatment options, streamlined management tasks, and other undiscovered possibilities.
However, this ever-evolving technology also introduces new challenges and uncertainties. Last year, two Case Western Reserve University students set out to understand potential pitfalls. Their findings led to the Ohio State Capitol.
Pre-law students Sabrina Soto and Paisley Twel explored how AI is being used by state healthcare institutions and looked into policies used in both Ohio and other states. They completed the 50-page paper from the first edition of the CWRU Faculty Law Journal, which they co-founded and co-edited in 2024-25.
Finishing the paper wasn’t enough. They wanted to go further with that. With support from her advisors, Sharona Hoffman, professor at Edgar A. Hahn Law and co-director of the Faculty of Law Center, secured a meeting with state lawmakers of Ohio State Assembly. C. Allison Russo and Christine Cockley.
“AI is so new, we are still in the first stages of implementation in the healthcare industry,” said Soto, a third-year student majoring in political science and psychology. “But from the start, we seem to have a lack of understanding of how to mitigate many of the problems that come with it.”
Soto and Twel have had the opportunity to position Ohio as a leader in this field.
AI review in healthcare
To form state recommendations, Soto and Tuel investigated examples of AI being utilized by healthcare organizations in Ohio. They then looked into legal precedents surrounding comprehensive cases of technology and studied issues policy from across the country.
Despite these new technological advances, AI has found several examples of legal cases that call for better surveillance by healthcare providers and insurance companies. In one ongoing case, health insurance companies were said to overlook high error rates in their algorithms, and the claim was denied, resulting in two premature death cases. They also learned about another case from Texas, who claimed to have misrepresented the error rate of one of the AI-driven diagnostic tools.
In Ohio, we discovered that AI is being used to transcription doctor conversations with patients for clinical notes, and in another example, it has been used to improve documentation of electronic health records. These uses are regulated by IT-17, a statewide policy created to guide the use of AI in statewide solutions. However, this framework does not provide direct guidance for healthcare applications.
Before drafting their own recommendations, Soto and Twel carefully examined laws enacted in California, Massachusetts and Illinois.
Draft Solutions
Soto and Tuel used their findings to recommend seven points that states can incorporate into potential laws. The three main themes they hope to tackle are better surveillance, improved training and patient rights.
They defend the state:
Established the Ohio AI Healthcare Regulation Board. Implement a strict AI certification process. Strengthening AI-specific data privacy and security laws. It mandates algorithm fairness and bias mitigation. Introducing an AI-powered medical malpractice framework. We encourage responsible AI innovation with incentives. We implement strict AI disclosure and explanation standards.
In addition to the recommendations, Soto and Tuel have created a three-year plan that the state can use to make changes.
The duo presented their work to Ohio legislators in February and were asked to help draft the law. They will continue to contribute to the work despite Tuel transferring to another university this fall.
Their slides are also shared with Pennsylvania lawmakers, expanding the impact of their work.
“As an undergraduate student – especially as a sophomore – I never think that this little research project you’re doing will have an impact on the real world. We thought we were trying to do something for fun and get more people excited about policy and law.
Read their articles in the CWRU Faculty Law Journal to learn more about their findings.
