Get real: Artificial intelligence in health

The ideas and innovators shaping health care

Nov 28, 2023 View in browser   By Evan Peng, Shawn Zeller, Carmen Paun, Ruth Reader and Erin Schumaker POLICY PUZZLE Rohini Kosoglu | Courtesy of Rohini Kosoglu Rohini Kosoglu, formerly domestic policy adviser to Vice President Kamala Harris, has turned her post-government career toward a pressing question: How will AI transform health care? Exploring answers is her focus as a policy fellow at the Stanford Institute for Human-Centered Artificial Intelligence. While she advised Harris, Kosoglu worked on the Biden administration’s Blueprint for an AI Bill of Rights, which warned industry last year that government would ensure “automated systems work for the American people.” In addition to the fellowship, Kosoglu is director of public policy and political affairs at the Stanford Byers Center for Biodesign and a partner at Fusion Fund, a venture capital firm that focuses on health care investments. Kosoglu talked with Evan about her outlook on AI in health care. This interview has been edited for length and clarity. What opportunities and challenges do you see in health care AI? There’s so much lacking in terms of what patients need. There’s a big opportunity to make the experience better, especially since the quality and volume of data we have in health care is so rich. We also need to stay vigilant. We need to make sure that people get truthful information and that this conversation feels accessible to them. No matter where people live, no matter what they look like, they should all feel a part of how we try and get this right. Is there enough tech expertise in Washington and government expertise in Silicon Valley? This is a moment where everybody’s got to roll up their sleeves and provide the best expertise that they can. We need to get the best talent to think through how to protect patients and also help patients get access to the best technology. I’m encouraged by what’s happening on Capitol Hill. Members are really focused on AI and bringing their colleagues in. There’s also a number of initiatives, including ones from Stanford, where people are really trying to think through how we can be a government that thinks about best-in-class technology while also making sure that people feel safe and comfortable. Why the emphasis on human-centered AI? As we think about AI policies, there can be an intentional effort to make sure humans are at the center. In health care, it’s not just about yourself. A lot of times, you have family or friends whose health care you’re involved with. With any advances in health care, we’re potentially saving so many people’s lives. But there’s also a balance that has to happen to make sure that we are protecting patients and that we are doing everything we can to make them feel safe.   GO INSIDE THE CAPITOL DOME: From the outset, POLITICO has been your eyes and ears on Capitol Hill, providing the most thorough Congress coverage — from political characters and emerging leaders to leadership squabbles and policy nuggets during committee markups and hearings. We're stepping up our game to ensure you’re fully informed on every key detail inside the Capitol Dome, all day, every day. Start your day with Playbook AM, refuel at midday with our Playbook PM halftime report and enrich your evening discussions with Huddle. Plus, stay updated with real-time buzz all day through our brand new Inside Congress Live feature. Learn more and subscribe here.     WELCOME TO FUTURE PULSE Boston, Mass. | Melissa Zeller This is where we explore the ideas and innovators shaping health care. Lawmakers are concerned about Instagram’s impact on mental health and this won’t help: The Wall Street Journal found the photo-sharing site’s algorithm pushed risqué footage of children to fake accounts reporters had set up, in which the reporters followed only young gymnasts, cheerleaders and other teen and preteen influencers. Share any thoughts, news, tips and feedback with Carmen Paun at cpaun@politico.com, Daniel Payne at dpayne@politico.com, Evan Peng at epeng@politico.com, Ruth Reader at rreader@politico.com or Erin Schumaker at eschumaker@politico.com. Send tips securely through SecureDrop, Signal, Telegram or WhatsApp. Today on our Pulse Check podcast, host Ben Leonard talks with POLITICO health care reporter Robert King about the growing bipartisan concern — and scrutiny — on Capitol Hill over reports that Medicare Advantage plans too often deny care. Listen to today’s Pulse Check podcast TECH MAZE AMA President Jesse Ehrenfeld wants doctors' liability limited if AI steers them wrong. | AP The country’s leading advocacy group for doctors wants rules for artificial intelligence buttressed by the force of law. The American Medical Association issued its principles for “AI development, deployment, and use” on Tuesday. President Jesse Ehrenfeld said the group sees the “immense potential of health care AI in enhancing diagnostic accuracy, treatment outcomes, and patient care.” Even so: Ehrenfeld argued that “this transformative power comes with ethical considerations and potential risks that demand a proactive and principled approach to the oversight and governance.” He said the AMA would engage the administration, Congress and industry stakeholders in devising regulations for the technology. The principles say that, in the AMA's view, "key characteristics and information regarding the design, development, and deployment processes should be mandated by law where possible, including potential sources of inequity in problem formulation, inputs, and implementation." Key asks: The AMA wants doctors’ liability limited if AI steers physicians astray. It also wants policymakers to ensure that insurance companies don’t use AI to interfere with physicians’ judgment, reduce access to needed care, or systematically withhold care from specific groups. Why it matters: Relatives of some UnitedHealthcare patients who died have hired California’s Clarkson Law Firm and are suing the insurance giant in federal district court in Minneapolis-St. Paul. They claim the insurer wrongly denied elderly patients’ Medicare Advantage claims because artificial intelligence told it to. UnitedHealthcare has denied that it uses AI to make coverage decisions.   DOWNLOAD THE POLITICO APP: Stay in the know with the POLITICO mobile app, featuring timely political news, insights and analysis from the best journalists in the business. The sleek and navigable design offers a convenient way to access POLITICO's scoops and groundbreaking reporting. Don’t miss out on the app you can rely on for the news you need. DOWNLOAD FOR iOS – DOWNLOAD FOR ANDROID.     FORWARD THINKING Bed nets help prevent malaria but packaging them is carbon-intensive. | AFP via Getty Images Some of the products that keep people healthy make the planet sicker. Case in point: A combination of drugs used to treat people living with HIV is estimated to generate 2.7 million tons of carbon dioxide emissions annually, shows a report released today by Unitaid, a global health organization working on innovations against diseases that affect developing countries. The report analyzed 10 key products in global health: five drugs and drug combinations for HIV, tuberculosis and malaria; a bed net for malaria; three tests for tuberculosis and HIV; and oxygen-producing facilities. The dolutegravir-based HIV drug combination was the most polluting. How so? A person living with HIV must take the equivalent of 650 milligrams of three different active pharmaceutical ingredients daily. While the amount seems small, each substance requires four to five sequential chemical reactions that involve many chemicals and consume a lot of energy, said Vincent Bretin, UNITAID’s director of results. When multiplied by the 30 million people who take the drugs per year, the drug combination emits more pollution than the Swiss city of Geneva did in 2019, he said. Insecticide-treated bed nets had the second largest carbon footprint. The nets, which protect people from malaria-carrying mosquitoes, are distributed in large quantities. Most of the emissions come from the 57,500 tons of plastic used to package them each year, according to the report. What can be done: The report identified 20 ideas that Bretin said could reduce emissions by 70 percent without increasing production costs. Three examples: — Recycling the solvent used to produce dolutegravir. Producing one pound of the drug requires nearly 440 pounds of solvent, so recycling can decrease emissions significantly — Switching to renewable energy in the production process — Redesigning packaging to reduce single-use plastics in bed nets   Follow us on Twitter Carmen Paun @carmenpaun Daniel Payne @_daniel_payne Ruth Reader @RuthReader Erin Schumaker @erinlschumaker Evan Peng @thepngfile   Follow us

To change your alert settings, please log in at https://www.politico.com/_login?base=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.politico.com/settings This email was sent to rouf@idiot.cloudns.cc by: POLITICO, LLC 1000 Wilson Blvd. Arlington, VA, 22209, USA Unsubscribe | Privacy Policy | Terms of Service