HHS Finalizes Tech Rule To Increase AI Transparency In Health IT Software
Vendors that want to certify their AI-enabled health IT products through HHS' Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology now must disclose how their algorithm was designed, developed, and trained.
Stat:
New Federal Rules Demand Transparency Into AI Models Used In Health Decisions
Federal health technology regulators on Wednesday finalized new rules to force software vendors to disclose how artificial intelligence tools are trained, developed, and tested — a move to protect patients against biased and harmful decisions about their care. The rules are aimed at placing guardrails around a new generation of AI models gaining rapid adoption in hospitals and clinics around the country. These tools are meant to help predict health risks and emergent medical problems, but little is publicly known about their effectiveness, reliability, or fairness. (Ross, 12/13)
Modern Healthcare:
HHS Rule Sets AI, Predictive Algorithm Transparency Requirements
Developers that want to certify their AI-enabled health IT products through ONC are required to describe how their algorithm was designed, developed and trained. They also must inform ONC whether patient demographic, social determinants of health or other equity-related data was used in training the AI model. Developers must provide information for clinical users about how to assess them for fairness, appropriateness, validity, effectiveness and safety, ONC said in the release. (DeSilva, 12/13)
CNBC:
How Doctors Are Using Google's New AI Models For Health Care
Google on Wednesday announced MedLM, a suite of new health-care-specific artificial intelligence models designed to help clinicians and researchers carry out complex studies, summarize doctor-patient interactions and more. The move marks Google’s latest attempt to monetize health-care industry AI tools, as competition for market share remains fierce between competitors like Amazon and Microsoft. (Capoot, 12/13)
In news about health care workers —
Los Angeles Times:
Doctors At L.A. County-Run Facilities Set Dec. 27 Strike Date
Physicians and dentists working at Los Angeles County-run hospitals, clinics and other county facilities have made plans to go on strike shortly after Christmas to protest what their union describes as inadequate benefits and dire vacancies. The Union of American Physicians and Dentists said Wednesday that it had set a Dec. 27 date for a walkout after more than two years of negotiations had failed to address concerns among doctors, dentists and other county employees who recently authorized a strike. (Alpert Reyes, 12/13)
Modern Healthcare:
What Hospital Recruitment, Retention Looked Like In 2023
Tuition reimbursement is a top program offered this year by health systems seeking to recruit and retain employees, according to a recent survey by Aon, an insurer and consulting firm. The survey of more than 1,400 hospitals and 160 health systems found that an increasing number of employers tailored their pay structures and organizational goals to meet employees’ needs in 2023. (Devereaux, 12/13)
More health care industry news —
CBS News:
UChicago Medicine Receives $20 Million Gift For Cancer Research
UChicago Medicine announced Wednesday that it has received a $20 million boost in the fight against cancer. The gift from Susan and Tandean Rustandy will support a seven-story 575,000 square-foot cancer care and research pavilion on 57th Street between Maryland and Drexel avenues on the University of Chicago Medical Center campus. Construction has already begun for the facility. The new center will be Illinois' only freestanding facility dedicated solely to cancer. (Harrington and Kraemer, 12/13)
The Texas Tribune:
Most Texas Border Counties Lack Adequate Medical Facilities And Staff
Juvencia Padilla knows the drive to El Paso like the back of her hand. She takes frequent road trips to the West Texas city from her Fort Hancock home, seeing more cotton and alfalfa fields than towns on the way. The trips are a medical necessity for her 29 year-old son Florentino Hernandez Jr. “Sometimes it takes us all day over there,” Padilla said. (Juell, 12/14)
Stat:
Why Health Records Don't Always Know When Patients Are Dead
Health professor Neil Wenger was deep into a years-long study on seriously ill primary care patients when he uncovered a different but persistent issue: Many patients who were targeted for follow-up interventions had actually died, and their hospitals did not know about it. (Ravindranath, 12/14)
KFF Health News:
An Arm And A Leg: When Hospitals Sue Patients (Part 1)
Some hospitals sue patients over unpaid medical bills in bulk, sometimes by the hundreds of thousands. The defendants are often already facing financial hardship or even bankruptcy .Judgments against patients in these suits can derail someone’s life but, according to experts, they don’t bring hospitals much money. So why do hospitals do it? (12/14)
