The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has issued its own HHS Artificial Intelligence Strategic Planwhich the agency says will “launch a coordinated public-private approach to improving the quality, safety, efficiency, accessibility, equity and outcomes of health and social services through the innovative, safe and responsible use of artificial intelligence.”
According to HHS, the strategic plan focuses on four key goals related to public health, care delivery, medical research and other areas:
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Catalyzing innovation and adoption of AI in health to unlock up-to-date ways to improve people’s lives.
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Promote the trustworthy development of artificial intelligence and its ethical and responsible employ to avoid potential harm.
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Democratize AI technology and resources to promote access.
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Cultivating an AI-enabled workforce and organizational culture to employ AI effectively and safely.
“Artificial intelligence has or will have a direct or indirect impact on every American’s experience of health care and human services,” HHS officials said. “Therefore, the development and implementation of artificial intelligence in health and social services should focus on delivering tangible benefits to the people who use or receive these services.”
full plan, which has almost 200 pagesaims to promote potential benefits such as:
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Accelerating scientific breakthroughs that can improve the quality and length of life.
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Used as part of a medical product or in the development of medical products to improve safety and effectiveness.
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Improving clinical outcomes and increasing safety through innovations in healthcare delivery.
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Improving equity and empowering participants through better delivery of health and social services.
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Forecast threats and rapidly mobilize resources to anticipate and respond to public health threats.
HHS says the guidance can facilitate improve the implementation of artificial intelligence in medical research and discovery, and is also intended to encourage the sheltered employ of artificial intelligence across disease areas and promote more AI-aligned data standards. This includes funding for research programs that develop or employ artificial intelligence in medical research and discovery, such as NIH’s Bridge2AI and the ARPA-H Antibiotic Transformation R&D Program with GenAI to Stop Emerging Threats (TARGET). The agency says it plans to issue interoperability guidance in the future to “engage the public and continue to prioritize safe, responsible and responsive AI in funding both intramural and part-time research programs.”
Meanwhile, HHS acknowledges that “the use of artificial intelligence in medical research and discovery may involve biosecurity, privacy, bias, and other risks.” In this regard, the agency will soon release national guidelines on AI in health and create sandboxes for industry collaboration, as well as explore the employ of AI for energetic AI risk assessment. The goal is to better protect AI models and health data from adversarial attacks, while enabling data sharing protocols that protect sensitive health information and mechanisms to mitigate harm from the misuse of predictive analytics.
In pursuit of its goal of democratizing AI technologies and resources, HHS says it is working with diverse communities – citing the NIH Artificial Intelligence/Machine Learning Consortium to Advance Health Equity and Research Diversity, or AIM-AHEAD – and standardizing research data (similarly as in the case of the NIH Common Repository of Data Elements) to promote public-private partnerships and inter-institutional research collaboration. It also focuses on equitable access to AI, particularly for traditionally disadvantaged populations such as rural communities and people with disabilities.
Meanwhile, HHS hopes to ensure “long-term, successful, and safe adoption of artificial intelligence in medical research and discovery, AI talent pipelines, and organizational work models” by supporting this goal with internal talent development, including NIH’s Data and Technology Development Division [DATA] National Service Scholarship Program. “HHS will continue to promote apprenticeship programs focused on AI in medical research and discovery activities to support talent acquisition and share AI management guidance to help organizations develop robust AI-enabled cultures.”
So far, early response to the HHS plan has been helpful.
For example, Premier Inc. notes that this is “directly consistent” with many of Premier’s AI policies recommendations for the sheltered employ of artificial intelligence to expand the healthcare workforce, advance health equity, and promote value-based care.
“The Prime Minister has long advocated for a responsible regulatory framework for artificial intelligence in healthcare that promotes transparency and enhances patient safety, while supporting innovation,” Soumi Saha, the group’s senior vice president of government affairs, said in a statement. “The Prime Minister is particularly excited by the plan’s recognition of the power of AI to revolutionize healthcare supply chain resilience, as the Prime Minister has witnessed first-hand the benefits of AI-powered knowledge in mitigating disruptions and shortages.”