Healthcare AI newswatch: AI-armed patients vs. big medical bills, Trump-era healthcare AI, patient safety anxieties, more

Buzzworthy developments of the past few days.

• Insufficient governance of AI in healthcare is not the No. 1 patient-safety worry in U.S. But it’s just off the lead. ECRI has it behind only “risks of dismissing patient, family and caregiver concerns” in the group’s new list of 10 pressing concerns around patient safety. “Failure to develop system-wide governance to evaluate, implement, oversee and monitor new and current AI applications may increase healthcare organizations’ liability risks,” ECRI warns. “However, it can be challenging to establish policies that can adapt to rapidly changing AI technology.” (The organization placed AI at the very top of its December 2024 rankings of the top healthcare technology hazards for 2025.) ECRI, often regarded as “the Consumer Reports of healthcare,” recommends smart actions and sound resources for addressing each of the 10 items making its latest list. And it’s all for free. Download here. 
   
• It’s no surprise Trump Administration II is taking a laissez-faire stance toward AI regulation. After all, the winning candidate campaigned pretty hard on scaling back all regulation. In healthcare, some are fretting over the prospect of AI innovation trumping safety-first prioritizing. Meanwhile, states are starting to take matters into their own hands, professional groups are stepping up to help—and some providers and suppliers are all in with DIY guardrailing. “Government oversight has its place, but I do think the way that clinical practice evolves tends to be more driven by what’s happening at a health system,” Seth Howard, Epic’s EVP of research and development, said at last week’s HIMSS conference. Healthcare Dive quotes numerous opinion-holders as it takes a deep dive into the unfolding situation. 
   
• Consider 5 pros and 5 cons of hands-off governmental oversight. Regulatory expert Timothy Powell, CPA, does just that, and in the context of healthcare AI at that, for ICD-10 Monitor.His favorite prospect is improved diagnostics. His most troubling risk is data privacy and security. “The future of healthcare with AI holds immense promise, but its success depends on responsible implementation,” Powell writes. “By addressing the challenges head-on, society can harness the full potential of AI while safeguarding the human aspects that make healthcare compassionate and ethical.” Get his perspective and the other four items on each of his two lists here. 
   
• Healthcare AI models should be tested on actual clinical tasks. You know, things like writing drug prescriptions, summarizing medical notes and advising patients. Right now, many if not most experts seem to agree that “current tests are distracting and new ones are needed,” observes a reporter at Science News, which has been published by the nonprofit Society for Science since the early 1920s. An AI agent named Isaac weighs in on the discussion at X. “The Turing test won’t suffice for medical AI,” Isaac tweets (or is it Xweets?). “We need rigorous clinical trials like those pioneered by Al-Razi in 9th century Baghdad—systematic evaluation of treatments on actual patients. Modern AI requires similar empirical validation, not just technical benchmarks.” You can’t make this stuff up. 
   
• Healthcare systems need to pilot GenAI documentation tools before adopting them across the enterprise. That’s one takeaway from three anecdotes of successful implementation described in Modern Healthcare this week. At 525-bed Denver Health, a safety-net system, leadership interviewed 10 vendors before testing one product in 6,000 patient encounters. The system is going with Nabla, largely on the strength of its combination of affordability with clinician satisfaction. More than 80% of 50 pilot participants said the tool would “increase their desire to maintain clinical hours because it gave them more time to interact with patients—and patients liked it too,” associate CMIO Daniel Kortsch, MD, tells the outlet. He expects the technology will be a selling point as the system recruits physicians. 
   
• Patients are arming themselves with AI to beat over-charging providers at their own game. The New York Post tells the story of one who used X’s Grok to analyze each line item in her infant’s $14,000 bill for a two-night hospital stay. The mom says she used the information to challenge hospital reps on the specific charges. In the end, she found out her family qualified for the hospital’s financial aid program based on their income and family size—“a fact she wouldn’t have stumbled upon without taking up her AI-fueled crusade,” the newspaper reports. “This is theft,” the mom says. “I’m hopeful AI can change how medical billing and insurance is done and give the American people the transparency we deserve.”
   
• As healthcare evolves, success lies in not just having the technology but in knowing how to introduce it to the right people. So notes PharmiWeb, which names five healthcare AI vendors to watch this year. Cleerly is among the companies making the cut. “By enabling the early detection and precise diagnosis of heart disease, Cleerly focuses on predictive and preventive care to reduce the global burden of cardiovascular conditions,” the outlet states. “Their innovative technology is shaping a new era in heart health management.” Get the rest. 
   
• AI and digital health solutions are key to building resilient, high-quality and accessible healthcare systems in Africa. That’s the opinion of Dr. Sabin Nsanzimana, Rwanda’s minister of health, as covered by The Standard of Kenya. These technologies “should be brought into the system and help young people discover solutions in health,” Nsanzimana says. “Because of technology, we do not need [as many] trained doctors.” The Standard notes that Rwanda has a policy in place to support the use of AI while also managing potential risks.
   
• Recent research in the news: 
   
  • Vanderbilt University Medical Center to develop AI technology for therapeutic antibody discovery
     
  • Florida Atlantic University: Headways and hurdles: How AI is shaping the future of medicine 
     
  • National University of Singapore: Ethical considerations in AI for child health and recommendations for child-centered medical AI
     
• Notable FDA approval activity:
   
  • FDA clears AI-assisted CCTA software that assesses plaques for signs of heart disease
     
• M&A headlines: 
   
  • Tempus announces acquisition of Deep 6 AI
     
• Funding news of note:
   
  • Robotics company Aescape secures $83M in strategic funding for AI-aided massage technology 
     
  • Freed secures $30M Series A to free clinicians from administrative burdens with AI assistant
     
• From AIin.Healthcare’s news partners:
   
  • Health Imaging: Generative AI increases efficiency, quality of radiology reports