LUGPA Policy Update: Advancing AI Policy in Healthcare

February 2025 

The National Artificial Intelligence Advisory Committee (NAIAC) recently released a draft report outlining ten critical AI policy areas under the National AI Initiative Act of 2020. This initiative seeks to strengthen the United States' leadership in AI while enhancing competitiveness across key sectors, including healthcare.

Despite significant healthcare expenditures, the U.S. continues to face inefficiencies in administrative processes and lags in health outcomes. AI presents a transformative opportunity to reduce administrative costs, improve clinical quality, and optimize healthcare delivery nationwide.

Proposed NAIAC Solutions

Solution A: Establishing an NSTC Subcommittee on Healthcare

The NAIAC report recommends creating a Subcommittee on Healthcare within the National Science and Technology Council (NSTC) to oversee the responsible use of linked clinical and administrative health data. This initiative would:

• Facilitate open access to cost-effective, evidence-based clinical protocols without intellectual property constraints.
• Standardize data-sharing practices to improve AI-driven clinical decision support.
• Ensure AI applications align with ethical, privacy, and security standards.

Healthcare generates vast amounts of data, yet only a fraction is effectively leveraged for AI model training due to market fragmentation and regulatory hurdles. Addressing these barriers could unlock AI's potential to enhance disease detection, personalize treatments, and accelerate medical research.

Solution B: Reconstituting the Federal Health Information Technology (HIT) Task Force

The report advocates reestablishing a Federal Health Information Technology (HIT) Task Force to coordinate Health IT budgets across federal agencies such as the Veterans Health Administration and CMS. The task force would:

• Establish national benchmarks for administrative cost reduction.
• Pilot AI-based reforms to streamline prior authorization and claims processing.
• Promote public-private partnerships to accelerate AI adoption in healthcare administration.

Excessive administrative costs in healthcare exceed $100 billion annually. Reducing these inefficiencies could lower patient expenses and improve service delivery. A coordinated federal approach is essential to setting cost benchmarks and driving AI-based regulatory reforms that benefit private-sector healthcare providers.

LUGPA’s Key Policy Considerations

• Bias Mitigation: AI models must be monitored and refined to prevent bias that could impact patient care based on race, gender, or socioeconomic status.
• Accountability & Liability: Clear policies are needed to define responsibility for AI-driven clinical decisions, ensuring transparency and trust in healthcare AI applications.
• Data Privacy & Security: Stronger adherence to HIPAA and other privacy regulations is necessary to protect patient data utilized by AI systems.
• Standardized AI Reporting: Publicly available reports detailing AI decision-making processes and performance metrics should be mandated to enhance consistency and reliability.
• Explainability & Ethical AI Use: AI tools should be transparent and interpretable to ensure clinicians and patients understand AI-driven recommendations and their implications.

As AI continues to evolve in healthcare, proactive policies are essential to maximize its benefits while mitigating risks. LUGPA emphasizes the need for robust regulations, ethical standards, and clinician involvement to ensure responsible AI integration that enhances patient care while preserving physician autonomy and trust.

In 2024, LUGPA submitted testimony to Representative Ami Bera, MD regarding the use of AI in healthcare, for additional information on LUGPA’s stance on AI policy, you can view the full testimony here.

An on-demand video discussion with information about the benefits of AI, and practical tips on how to get started using this new technology in practices is available here.