Doctors embrace AI as regulators work to ensure safe use – Shaw Local

A recent survey by the American Medical Association found that 81% of doctors polled are using augmented intelligence tools in some form.

This result is more than double that of the 2023 poll.

According to the survey, these 1,700 doctors are using AI tools to document medical visits, create discharge instructions, and stay current with medical research.

The AMA House of Delegates uses the term augmented intelligence instead of artificial intelligence to emphasize that AI assists and enhances human intelligence, not replaces it.

John Whyte, American Medical Association chief executive officer and executive vice president, echoed those findings on the association’s website, while expressing the need for regulation.

“Physicians see real promise in its ability to support clinical decisions and cut down on administrative burden,” Whyte said. “But as this technology advances, it is critical that augmented intelligence be designed to enhance – not replace – physicians.”

As healthcare providers increasingly embrace artificial intelligence, medical leaders and regulators are working to ensure the technology is used safely and responsibly.

Whyte stressed that doctors should “help shape how AI is integrated into medicine.”

“For doctors to trust and use these tools, they must be safe, effective and used responsibly so they truly improve patient care,” Whyte said.

But who pays for them?

On April 9, 2025, S.1399-Health Tech Investment Act was introduced in the Senate.

This bipartisan bill aims to amend title XVIII of the Social Security Act “to ensure appropriate payment of certain algorithm-based healthcare services under the Medicare program,” according to the bill.

These services must be delivered through a device cleared or approved by the Food and Drug Administration that uses artificial intelligence, machine learning, or other similarly designed software to yield clinical outputs or generate clinical conclusions,” according to the bill.

Furthermore, these services must be used by “doctors or healthcare practitioners for screening, detection, diagnosis or treatment of an individual’s condition or disease,” according to the bill.

Dr. Omar S. Khokhar of Illinois GastroHealth and OSF HealthCare St. Joseph Medical Center in Bloomington said, “There is no additional cost to the patient,” for AI use with colonoscopies.

“The AI system is paid for by the surgery center,” Khokhar said.

Furthermore, “we fully disclose that we use AI prior to colonoscopy,” he added.

“[And] we do not collect any patient data,” Khokhar said.

Patients also don’t pay when healthcare providers use ambient listening AI, according to Dr. Michael Endris, a pediatrician with OSF Medical Group in Bloomington.

They must also consent to its use, Endris said.

“By default, it is not used unless consent is obtained ahead of time,” Endris said. Patients must sign a form giving us consent to use it.”

Last fall, the American Medical Association launched The AMA Center for Digital Health and AI.

The center aims to build “partnerships with regulators, policymakers and technology leaders to shape benchmarks for safe and effective use of augmented intelligence and other digital tools in medicine,” as well as educate and support doctors in their use, according to the website.

Unfortunately, as AI becomes embedded into many aspects of healthcare organizations – administrative, care-support workflows, clinical and operational – healthcare organizations “face new risks related to patient safety, privacy, bias, transparency, and oversight,” according to the Joint Commission website.

Created in 1951, the Joint Commission is an independent, not-for-profit organization that accredits more than 20,000 healthcare programs and organizations in the United States, with most of its functions directly related to patient safety, according to the National Library of Medicine.

So to help ensure healthcare organizations use augmented intelligence responsibly, the Joint Commission recently created a voluntary certification: “Responsible Use of AI in Healthcare.”

The certificate will recognize U.S. healthcare organizations that “demonstrate they have the governance, safeguards, monitoring processes, and education in place to use AI responsibly,” according to the Joint Commission website.

The certification does not certify any individual AI products or tools, according to the website.

But it will create a “blueprint for safely and appropriately using AI,” Dr. Jonathan B. Perlin, president and chief executive officer of the Joint Commission, said on the commission’s website.

Karen Harris, senior vice president and general counsel for the Illinois Health and Hospital Association, said the association supports systems that help patient outcomes, expand access to care, and lower costs.

But while the association overall favors AI, the association also recognizes AI is in its initial stages, Harris said.

So policymakers need to keep three things in mind: remembering the past while planning for the future; employing common definitions and laws while tailoring regulation to industries; and balancing appropriate safeguards with innovation, Harris said.

For instance, Harris said AI legislation should be considered as a living policy.

“While we should get some initial frameworks out there, legislators need to be cognizant of the fact that the AI technology we’re seeing will keep growing and evolving,” Harris said.

Also, legislation should recognize that certain industries already must comply with other regulatory frameworks to prevent duplication or impede requirements already in place, Harris said.

“HIPAA already has robust protections for data and privacy,” Harris said. “But maybe other industries don’t.”

Finally, Harris said AI definitely needs guardrails. But guardrails should not negatively impact systems already deployed and proven useful in preventing harm, she said.

That means policymakers should continue engaging healthcare providers, patients, and other stakeholders, Harris said,

“So that we ultimately make sure to develop measured, forward-thinking guardrails that protect patients and allow innovation and improve health care delivery,” Harris said.