| | | | |  | | By Erin Schumaker, Daniel Payne and Ruth Reader | | | | | 
YouTube wants to be a go-to source for health information. | YouTube | Need medical advice in a crisis? YouTube is ready to help. Starting today, people who search for emergency health terms like “opioid overdose,” “heart attack” or “suicide” on YouTube will be offered a pinned shelf of first-aid information from authoritative health sources. According to YouTube, the company previously elevated authoritative health content but didn’t prioritize expert information viewers would need during a health emergency. How so: YouTube teamed up with top experts, including Mass General Brigham and the Mexican Red Cross, on short step-by-step explainer videos like “How to Perform the Heimlich Maneuver,” now pinned to the top of search terms. — Other health terms that trigger the emergency first-aid shelf include seizure, psychosis, bleeding, stroke, tourniquet, poisoning and snake bite. — YouTube also worked with the American Heart Association on a CPR course to help people without medical training learn hands-only CPR, which will be available on the site. Why: The move is the latest effort from YouTube, which Google owns, to position itself as an authoritative source of health and medical information. Last year, YouTube said it would remove videos containing misleading or harmful health information that went against guidance from the World Health Organization, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and local health authorities. The company also recruited and promoted videos from health experts. What's next? First-aid health shelves will be available in English and Spanish, with YouTube rolling out more language options in the future. The company previously said it’s experimenting with an artificial intelligence pilot for dubbing health videos in different languages.
| | | | 
Acadia National Park, Maine | Shawn Zeller/POLITICO | This is where we explore the ideas and innovators shaping health care. Beyond dry January: Quitting drinking could reduce your risk for certain cancers. A recent New England Journal of Medicine review found that going dry was linked to a 34 percent decrease in relative risk for oral cancer after 5 to 9 years, and a 55 percent lower risk after 10 to 19 years. Share any thoughts, news, tips and feedback with Carmen Paun at cpaun@politico.com, Daniel Payne at dpayne@politico.com, Ruth Reader at rreader@politico.com or Erin Schumaker at eschumaker@politico.com. Send tips securely through SecureDrop, Signal, Telegram or WhatsApp.
| | |  Opportunities abound in health care, McKinsey says. | Fabrice Coffrini/AFP via Getty Images | Big shifts in the health sector could be on the horizon in 2024, according to a new outlook from McKinsey. The financial squeeze from labor costs, the pandemic and inflation are easing, and the management consultants at the firm see emerging opportunities for: — Insurers The growing number of people eligible for Medicare Advantage plans, especially those eligible for dual enrollment in Medicaid, offers insurers a chance to grow revenue. — Providers Hospitals could see returns on their efforts to transform how they deliver care. Those efforts included cost-cutting strategies and — along with some increases in volume — are likely to help systems’ bottom lines. Newly negotiated contracts in 2024 and beyond could also yield higher reimbursements. — Tech and research The health sciences and technology sector have seen strong long-term growth — as well as a rebound after the height of the pandemic. That growth is expected to continue. Health software and data companies could be the stars among the subsector, with even larger returns than other health tech companies. Takeaway: Each part of the health care industry has something in common, McKinsey said. Economic and health headwinds have been strong since 2020, but adaptation across the sector will likely mean a bounce back soon, the consultants believe.
| | | | 
The EU is moving first to regulate advanced artificial intelligence. | John Thys/AFP via Getty Images | The global patchwork of rules emerging for AI in health care could play to America’s benefit, POLITICO’s Mari Eccles reports. That’s because foreign companies interested in introducing AI to health care systems might opt to get regulatory approval in a more hassle-free American environment first. How so? Different AI regulations in the EU, the U.K. and the U.S. could introduce “potential complexity” into the health care industry, according to Tom Whittaker, a senior solicitor at independent U.K. law firm Burges Salmon. The EU approach: In December, negotiators on the EU’s AI Act agreed to a framework for rules, but the technical details are still under negotiation. What’s clear is that it will be comprehensive regulation that will create a minimum set of standards across industry, prohibit certain kinds of AI and likely treat health-related AI as high risk and therefore subject to additional safeguards. In the U.K.: The British are taking a more industry-specific approach. Despite some coherence on safety and oversight, the way AI is regulated in various sectors will differ. And in the U.S.: America, unsurprisingly, is approaching AI regulation with a much lighter touch. President Joe Biden has tasked his agencies with considering what rules are needed, but apart from new HHS transparency rules that require AI developers to reveal more about their products, they’re still in the planning stages. The knock-on effect: The patchwork of approaches could mean problems for companies who want to roll out their products worldwide. “There is talk about international AI regulatory interoperability; however, regulations are context-, sector- and jurisdiction-specific, so the need to navigate multiple, divergent regulatory regimes may be needed to bring products to market in multiple jurisdictions,” Whittaker said. | | | | Follow us on Twitter | | | | Follow us | | | | |
