Only 16% of almost three dozen healthcare executives report having a policy for AI governance. At the same time, almost 20% say their institution has one or more committees of senior leaders from multiple departments set to oversee AI.

The latter finding “underscores the seriousness being placed on AI,” according to analysts at KLAS Research and the Center for Connected Medicine at UPMC in Pittsburgh.

The organizations interviewed 35 executives from 34 hospitals and health systems in November and December. This week they posted the results. Here are five of the report’s key questions, answers and observations.

1. Does your organization have a systemwide governance policy for AI usage and data access?

• 65%—No
• 19%—No, but we have broader policies that cover AI
• 16%—Yes

The report’s authors comment that, in addition to being in the early stages of AI adoption, several respondents also said their organizations are waiting for federal regulations to be issued before creating their own policies. More:

Other challenges or roadblocks to setting up system-wide AI policies cited by respondents included navigating the complexity of AI and its intersection with ethical, legal and compliance rules and policies; a lack of internal expertise to evaluate AI solutions in a clinical environment; a desire to focus on more-immediate priorities; and a need to first develop mature IT infrastructure to support AI applications.

2. Has your AI governance policy been updated in the last year?

• 55%—No
• 36%—Yes
• 9%—Policy has been updated but is not specific to AI

For those organizations that have established or are in the process of developing governance policies specific to AI, the policies “seek to oversee AI usage and address ethical, legal and security concerns,” KLAS and CCM note. More:

In many cases, the policies are developed by AI-specific committees tasked with ensuring AI is used responsibly, especially as it relates to patient data protection and regulatory compliance. Some organizations have formed AI committees but are still in the process of establishing AI policies.

3. Does your organization have policies in place that are specific to generative AI?

• 64%—No
• 11%—No, but policies are in process of being established
• 11%—Yes
• 7%—No, but there are verbal recommendations
• 4%—No, it's too early to have policies
• 4%—No, but a general governance process is used for generative AI

The authors here quote a vice president who remarks:

“The main policies are that AI is not to be used without human review and that AI is a tool to support people. But at the end of the day, regardless of whoever the clinical user is, they are responsible when they sign off on the AI documentation support or recommendation. If they are not comfortable with a recommendation, they need to be able to override it and explain why. If they are just blindly accepting things, then they should not be working for us.”

4. Does your organization plan to adopt AI that integrates with your EHR?

• 73%—Yes
• 17%—Unsure
• 10%—No

Most respondents agree that AI solutions will need to integrate within the EHR, the authors state. However:

They expect their organizations may end up using solutions from both EHR vendors and non-EHR vendors. Using both types of solutions would allow a health system to tailor AI to their unique needs and optimize ROI.

5. How does generative AI complement and/or enhance the work of your healthcare professionals?

• 26%—Improves efficiencies (general)
• 17%—Provides visibility into clinical decisions
• 11%— Automates repetitive tasks
• 11%—Educates & communicates with patients
• 9%—Improves documentation & charting
• 6%—Improves physician satisfaction
• 6%—Alleviates staffing shortages
• 3%—Reduces cognitive burden
• 3%—Improves radiology & pathology
• 3%—Improves patient throughput

Generative AI is “expected to automate routine tasks such as prior authorizations, scheduling and documentation,” the KLAS and CCM analysts point out. “This would then free up healthcare professionals to focus directly on patient care and allow organizations to optimize resource allocation.” They quote a hospital VP who observes:

“AI changes the user interface a lot, so it changes the way that people can interact with the record. It changes and accelerates the way we do data analysis.”

The full report is downloadable here.

Buzzworthy developments of the past few days.

• By 2027, a good chunk of consumers will favor ‘AI-free’ offerings in all kinds of product categories. The business consulting firm Gartner makes the prediction in a marketing forecast posted Feb. 14, likening the coming trend to many shoppers’ preference for farm-to-table food over mass-produced groceries. Gartner doesn’t extend the vision to healthcare, but it probably could. “Acoustic brands—those that prioritize authenticity and ethics, and identify and address points of extreme customer wariness—will differentiate themselves by promising AI-free experiences,” the firm predicts. “These brands can potentially position themselves as a safer or more premium alternative.”
   
• CIOs and CFOs haven’t always seen eye-to-eye, but technology itself may be coaxing a durable peace. “As digital technology courses through the business world, their conversation has become broader and deeper,” according to a Valentine’s Day piece in The Wall Street Journal. Spurring the closer kinship is a mutual appreciation of one another’s need for the other’s point of view “as their respective roles evolve in the pressure-cooker of digital transformation.” It seems unlikely CIOs have really heard the last refrain of Haven’t we spent enough on computers and IT? But winter is fading and hope springs eternal.
   
• Slow down, you innovate too fast. With $28 billion of investment in healthcare AI startups, impatient financiers have a hand in pushing the technology along quicker than regulators can do their thing for patient safety and privacy. As one venture capital mover and shaker tells KFF Health News, policymakers are “terribly behind the times.” At the same time, at least one leading physician worries Washington will “come in with guns blazing and overregulate.” Summary coverage here.
   
• An investment banking analyst offers a bracing heads-up for healthcare providers. “The most immediate place [AI] is being used by payers is to engage in cyber-warfare against your revenue cycle,” says the expert watcher, Gary Taylor of TD Cowen. Everything payers do to make reimbursement difficult is “going to get a lot smarter,” Taylor told attendees at an annual meeting of 600 healthcare leaders. To push back, he suggested, providers themselves will have to invest in AI.  
   
• ‘Computers will never fully duplicate the poetry, reasoning and eloquence of the human mind.’ However, it’s hard to imagine a modern healthcare ecosystem succeeding in the 21st century without the amazing human-mimicking powers of NLP and large-language AI models. Mayo Clinic Platform President John Halamka, MD, tells why in commentary for HealthSystemCIO.com.
   
• Researchers at Mount Sinai Health System in New York City have won a $4.1 million grant to develop AI for helping sufferers of sleep apnea. The funding is from NIH’s National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute. Announcement.
   
• A healthcare AI startup aimed at tackling claims denials ‘head-on’ emerged from stealth Feb. 15 with a $3.1 million funding round. Called RapidClaims, the company says its core product is a medical coding automation module. The idea for the software germinated five or so years ago when one of its founders worked at Abbott Healthcare. Since then the co-founder, Dushyant Mishra, “has closely monitored the space, which gained significant momentum in 2022 as two key trends emerged: an increase in claim denial rates across the U.S. and the effective demonstration of large language models as a solution to these challenges.” More info here.
   
• The FDA has cleared AI software for analyzing CT scans of the liver. The product was developed and is marketed by Nanox of Petach Tikva, Israel. The company notes this is the third of its offerings to win a go-ahead from the FDA. Announcement.
   
• AI startup Kahun of Tel Aviv is introducing generative AI software geared for physicians. Called “Dialogue,” the product takes the form of a HIPAA-compliant chatbot that welcomes questions related to clinical care and replies with insights backed by medical literature. Announcement.
   
• From AIin.Healthcare’s news partners:
   
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  • Health Imaging: Radiology AI developer Deepc acquires Osimis image management platform
  • Radiology Business: 6 key trends in medical imaging physics