One expert in health-related AI technology warned members of Congress on Feb. 8 that guardrails for the emerging technology will only serve the few organizations that are “already on the AI adoption highway,” and called on lawmakers to invest in underserved communities so all people in the U.S. can benefit from AI in healthcare.
“Guardrails only serve the few organizations that are already on the AI adoption highway,” Mark Sendak, the co-lead for Health AI Partnership, said during a Senate Finance Committee hearing. “We must also address the more critical need for roads, on-ramps, and bridges – the core infrastructure investments needed to ensure that all people in the U.S. benefit from AI in healthcare.”
“Most healthcare organizations in the U.S. need an on-ramp to the AI adoption highway,” he said. “They are struggling with clinician burnout, they face razor thin or negative margins, they are entirely dependent on external EHR [electronic health record] vendors for technology, expertise, and assistance.”
“Simply put, they do not have the resources, personnel, or technical infrastructure to embrace guardrails for the AI adoption highway,” Sendak continued. “Core infrastructure investments are needed for technical assistance, technology infrastructure, and training.”
During the hearing, Sen. Ben Cardin, D-Md., brought up concerns with equity, noting that “we have a digital divide. We have challenges with accessibility for underserved communities generally with healthcare, but also our safety net providers don’t necessarily have the same capacity.”
The senator questioned Sendak on how lawmakers can ensure AI will be accessible to underserved communities.
Sendak emphasized that Congress must invest in core infrastructure for these organizations, through the help of Federally funded programs. For example, he highlighted that 15 years ago Congress funded the procurement of EHRs to support EHR implementation in low resource settings – showcasing that Federal programs did successfully enable broad adoption of the technology.
He said that the same must be done for AI in under resourced healthcare organizations.
“They are not on the AI adoption highway. Guardrails do not help them because they are struggling to operate efficiently at baseline,” Sendak said. “That’s where I want to keep pointing to prior Federal programs where we made infrastructure investments in procurement of new digital platforms to enable care to be delivered with EHRs. We invested in technical assistance programs. So that’s how we’re going to reach those communities.”
