States Move to Regulate AI in Medicine: When the Legislative Cure is Worse Than the Disease
The national mood toward AI is mixed. Some are deeply hopeful about the promises of the technology, while others are more skeptical and suspect that regulation is urgently needed. One area of consensus is the use of AI in medicine. According to recent Gallup polling, Americans are consistently hopeful about the potential of AI to positively impact medicine. As researchers and hospitals continue to use AI to produce stunning breakthroughs in healthcare, states across the country are moving to place restrictions on how and when the technology can be used. These efforts fail to reconcile the solemnity of medical practice with the reality of innovation and the power of national standards.
AI is saving lives and helping doctors better serve their patients. On the most surface level, AI is streamlining the administrative process and relieving some of the burden that paperwork and scheduling places on hospital and medical office staff.
Beyond increasing efficiency and improving the patient experience, AI is transforming the diagnostic process and giving hope to patients and their families. The fight against cancer, in particular, has benefitted from the progress of AI. Researchers at Harvard are developing AI tools to diagnose, track, and offer treatment options for cancer, and at Louisiana’s own Mary Bird Perkins Cancer Center, AI is making the cancer scanning process more affordable, faster, and more accurate. Just last week, a British startup began trials for an AI powered blood test that can detect cancer in patients earlier, and without the invasive sample collection and scans often used.
Oncology is just one of many fields of medicine benefitting from advancements in the technology. FDA approval of AI powered medical devices is increasing rapidly. The American Medical Association reported that physician enthusiasm for AI is increasing and the majority of physicians surveyed already incorporate AI into their practice.
Despite the promise and popularity of AI in the field of medicine, there is a growing push among lawmakers to create individual statewide frameworks to limit its use. This year, state legislatures have passed bills that would establish sweeping regulatory regimes. While some have been vetoed, like that in Virginia, others march on. Broad efforts to regulate AI will inevitably impact its use in medicine. States will have inconsistent standards and innovators will be hampered by excessive compliance measures and restrictions.
Other legislative efforts have targeted the use of AI in healthcare more specifically. Last year, California signed into law two bills dictating how AI can be used in health insurance and in patient communications. This year, Illinois introduced SB 2022, which includes protocols for how nurses’ decisions should interact with those powered by AI.
State efforts to regulate AI, particularly in the realm of medicine, meet a pacing dilemma. It is impossible to anticipate the ways that AI will progress to meet the needs of the field, and an attempt to enumerate the specific sanctioned uses of the technology will inevitably fall short. Laws simply cannot keep pace with the rapid innovation that is occurring in hospitals and labs across the country. For families who have confronted hopeless and fatal diagnoses, the potential of AI to solve problems in ways that doctors (and lawmakers) cannot imagine is a profoundly hopeful and wonderful thing.
Furthermore, state legislation on AI can clash with national efforts to provide clarity to medical professionals. On the federal level, legislation before Congress could have great bearing on the future of AI in healthcare. Introduced this year, the Healthy Technology Act of 2025, HR 238, could expand the use of AI and open opportunities for AI to prescribe drugs. Last year, S. 4862, “A Bill to Ensure that New Advances in Artificial Intelligence are Ethically Adopted to Improve the Health of All Individuals, and for Other Purposes,” was introduced and sought to direct the National Institutes of Health to establish guidelines and resources for the ethical use of AI in medicine. While much remains to be seen about the future of national legislation on AI in medicine, it is certain that a state-by-state approach to medical AI will detract from a uniform standard for the ethical and productive use of the technology across the country.
Even those hesitant to adopt AI can acknowledge the positive impact it will have on the medical practice. From the patient experience, to diagnostics, to cures previously unimaginable, the technology is unlocking health rapidly and in new ways. State efforts to limit its use in medicine threaten the rapid progress that the field has so far benefitted from, and create an unworkable patchwork of red tape. National guidelines and education can empower medical professionals and researchers to continue the good work that has begun while balancing the legitimate care for ethics vital to the practice of medicine.
Links to Learn More:
Can AI answer medical questions better than your doctor? – Harvard Health
