Healthcare AI today: Exhorted doctors, shifting nurses, safe psychologists, more
News and views you ought to know about:
- From development to decommissioning, physicians should be full partners with other stakeholders at every stage of clinical AI’s lifecycle. And while we’re focused on doctors and AI, let’s also mention that the physician workforce’s upskilling is critical to advancing AI adoption across healthcare.
- These are two of four “crucial considerations” the American Medical Association urged a U.S. Senate committee to consider in October. This week the AMA is reiterating the call and broadening its reach to include all parties who are interested—or perhaps should be. The other two imperatives: There should be a coordinated, transparent, whole-government approach and Secure data that is free from bias is needed to enhance trust and confidence.
- The call to awareness comes alongside refreshed promotion of the new AMA Center for Digital Health and AI. Launched last month, the center is set up to give physicians “a powerful voice in shaping how augmented intelligence (AI) and other digital tools are harnessed to improve the patient and clinician experience,” according to the center’s webpage.
- Physicians “must play a central role in the ethical development, deployment and utilization of AI technologies in healthcare, as their clinical expertise is indispensable in ensuring these tools are safe, effective and trustworthy,” the AMA insists. “When AI-powered technologies are implemented properly, they hold significant potential to enhance patient-centered care, improve clinical outcomes and reduce costs.”
- Get AMA’s Nov. 13 wrap-up here.
- Get AMA’s Nov. 13 wrap-up here.
- These are two of four “crucial considerations” the American Medical Association urged a U.S. Senate committee to consider in October. This week the AMA is reiterating the call and broadening its reach to include all parties who are interested—or perhaps should be. The other two imperatives: There should be a coordinated, transparent, whole-government approach and Secure data that is free from bias is needed to enhance trust and confidence.
- The country’s largest health system is using AI to ‘tighten’ shift handoffs between nurses. That’s no small order, as HCA Healthcare runs almost 200 hospitals and sees around 400,000 such shift changes a week. HCA’s CFO Michael Marks mentioned the AI use case as just one among many at a big healthcare event Nov. 12. But it’s one vividly illustrative example. When one nurse is exiting shift and another is arriving for the same patient cluster, the process can be cumbersome and time-consuming, Marks explained, according to coverage of the 2025 UBS Global Healthcare Conference by Fierce Healthcare. “We’re finding an opportunity to use AI to really synthesize the medical record and the operational records and give our nursing teams a much more synthesized and effective way to do shift handoff as they hand off their patients,” he said. “Given the amount of times we do this in the company, that has a real opportunity clinically to help our nurses through what is one of the riskier areas of work.”
- Marks also commented on how difficult HCA is finding it to roll out AI and change behavior too. “[W]e’re learning that we have to be just as good at implementation and change management as we do about building AI tools,” he remarked. “And so that investment continues in the company as we continue to learn and iterate.” Full Fierce coverage here.
- Marks also commented on how difficult HCA is finding it to roll out AI and change behavior too. “[W]e’re learning that we have to be just as good at implementation and change management as we do about building AI tools,” he remarked. “And so that investment continues in the company as we continue to learn and iterate.” Full Fierce coverage here.
- Contrary to popular hype, the jobs of talk therapists are safe from AI chatbots. The reassurance is there between the lines of a rigorously sourced health advisory released Nov. 13 by the American Psychological Association. “Although these digital tools are accessible, easy to use, often low cost and may provide benefits in certain contexts, there is no scientific consensus that they have the essential capabilities of a trained human professional able to provide effective services,” the document states. It then describes five risks that would face any patient or provider who relied on the tools for more than care augmentation. Among these are incomplete diagnostic assessments, unreliable crisis management and the creation of a “false sense of therapeutic alliance.”
- In announcing the availability of the advisory, APA chief executive Arthur Evans Jr., PhD, notes that the development of AI technologies has outpaced the profession’s ability to mediate potential psychological damage done by chatbots. “As a result, we are seeing reports of significant harm done to adolescents and other vulnerable populations,” Evans says. “For some, this can be life-threatening, underscoring the need for psychologists and psychological science to be involved at every stage of the [AI] development process.” Summary announcement here, full advisory here.
- In announcing the availability of the advisory, APA chief executive Arthur Evans Jr., PhD, notes that the development of AI technologies has outpaced the profession’s ability to mediate potential psychological damage done by chatbots. “As a result, we are seeing reports of significant harm done to adolescents and other vulnerable populations,” Evans says. “For some, this can be life-threatening, underscoring the need for psychologists and psychological science to be involved at every stage of the [AI] development process.” Summary announcement here, full advisory here.
- Good laws require healthcare providers to let patients know when they’re using AI. Lousy laws go too far, infringing on patient autonomy. That’s the stand of the libertarian Cato Institute think tank. As Cato senior fellow Jeffrey Singer puts it, strong prohibitions on AI’s allowable input in medical diagnostics and therapeutics—however well-intended—can thwart the right of autonomous adults to “decide who and what they turn to for healthcare advice and treatment.”
- What’s more, Singer maintains, requiring FDA approval for AI healthcare tools “risks dragging them into the same bureaucratic gauntlet that slows drug and device innovation.” This process, he argues, is “expensive, time-consuming and vulnerable to special interest pleading and political considerations, giving large incumbents an advantage while shutting out startups and academic innovators. Instead of fostering progress, it risks delaying or even derailing the natural evolution of AI in healthcare.” Read the rest.
- What’s more, Singer maintains, requiring FDA approval for AI healthcare tools “risks dragging them into the same bureaucratic gauntlet that slows drug and device innovation.” This process, he argues, is “expensive, time-consuming and vulnerable to special interest pleading and political considerations, giving large incumbents an advantage while shutting out startups and academic innovators. Instead of fostering progress, it risks delaying or even derailing the natural evolution of AI in healthcare.” Read the rest.
- Investors are wild about AI in healthcare. They’ve shoveled around $10.7 billion into healthcare AI startups in 2025. There’s still a month and a half to go, and already funding is up around 25% over the entire previous year, which had a final tally of $8.6 billion. The figures are from Crunchbase, where contributing numbers-cruncher Mary Ann Azevedo comments: “It’s clear that the overall AI investment boom has funneled more capital into healthcare as one of the sectors where AI can have a large, measurable impact. Funding is climbing because the technology is better, the need in healthcare is urgent, more providers are starting to adopt AI solutions, and investors are now seeing clearer paths to scale and profit.” Read the whole thing.
- In other noteworthy news:
- How AI is transforming healthcare across the country (NBC News Online)
- Medical professionals gather in the Vatican to discuss AI and healthcare (Vatican News)
- Think AI doesn’t belong in doctors’ offices? Think again. (US News & World Report)
- How AI is transforming healthcare across the country (NBC News Online)
- From AIin.Healthcare’s sibling news outlets:
- Radiology Business: Radiologist-led breast imaging AI vendor Clairity raises $43M
- Radiology Business: Less than 30% of FDA-authorized radiology AI devices have undergone clinical testing
- Radiology Business: Radiologist-led breast imaging AI vendor Clairity raises $43M
Dave P. has worked in journalism, marketing and public relations for more than 30 years, frequently concentrating on hospitals, healthcare technology and Catholic communications. He has also specialized in fundraising communications, ghostwriting for CEOs of local, national and global charities, nonprofits and foundations.