Leaders across health sectors want the incoming Trump administration to take the lead on rules to govern artificial intelligence. President-elect Donald Trump started that effort on Sunday, naming Sriram Krishnan, former general partner at venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz, as senior policy adviser for artificial intelligence at the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy. Health systems are looking to the federal government to step up its AI regulation in the coming years — including some that want the FDA to review AI to the same standard it reviews drugs: proving they’re safe and effective before entering the market. “My hope is that products that come to market are well vetted,” said Dr. Dave Newman, chief medical officer for virtual care at Sanford Health, a South Dakota-based health system with hundreds of locations across the upper Midwest. But providers aren’t the only ones in the health care sector who want the government to boost its regulation of the technology. Members of the Healthcare Leadership Council, a coalition of health care industry executives, sent a letter to the co-chairs of Trump’s transition team asking it to build safeguards around the technology to bolster its use in American health care. “We believe that, without federal leadership, the quickly forming patchwork of state requirements will hinder this innovation,” the group wrote, noting that data protection and privacy were top concerns for the technology’s rise. Health organizations want more certainty about guiding principles as they increasingly invest in AI and try to make sense of its impacts on care. Even so: Some groups are pushing for a softer touch from the government, including some Republicans in Congress. They worry that more rules will stifle the AI industry in the U.S. — just as demand for the technology is booming internationally. The change in leadership across the government has increased the uncertainty of the rules that could be ahead. Why it matters: The incoming administration’s approach could set the tone for how the U.S. government regulates the technology for decades to come. Lawmakers, agency leaders and the president-elect have shown interest in shaping the country’s approach in the coming years. The rules governing AI could determine the standards that health care tools must meet before being used in patient care — which could affect all kinds of care nationwide.
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