The American Medical Association (AMA) has endorsed a list of healthcare policy recommendations designed to emphasize AI’s ability to improve patient care, reduce costs and support physicians.
“Medical experts are working to determine the clinical applications of AI—work that will guide health care in the future,” Gerald E. Harmon, MD, former chair of the AMA Board of Trustees, said in a prepared statement. “These experts, along with physicians, state and federal officials must find the path that ends with better outcomes for patients. We have to make sure the technology does not get ahead of our humanity and creativity as physicians.”
The list of endorsed recommendations includes:
- Oversight and regulation of health care AI systems based on risk of harm and benefit;
- Payment and coverage for all health care AI systems that are conditioned on complying with all appropriate federal and state laws and regulations, including but not limited to those governing patient safety, efficacy, equity, truthful claims, privacy, and security as well as state medical practice and licensure laws;
- Policies that do not penalize physicians who do not use AI systems while regulatory oversight, standards, clinical validation, clinical usefulness, and standards of care are in flux. Opposing mandates by payers, hospitals, health systems, or governmental entities mandating the use of health care AI systems as a condition of licensure, participation, payment, or coverage;
- And many more.
The endorsements were officially made at the 2019 Annual Meeting of the AMA House of Delegates in Chicago. More information about the meeting is available here.
Michael has more than 16 years of experience as a professional writer and editor. He has written at length about cardiology, radiology, artificial intelligence and other key healthcare topics.