The legislators of the State of Arizona approved a new legislation on Thursday with the objective of restricting the use of artificial intelligence in the review of medical claims.
If the law is signed, the bill prohibits the AI used to deny a medical claim or deny a prior authorization necessary for “medical need, experimental state or any other reason that implies the use of medical judgment,” says the project of law.
The legislation flew launched a 58-0 vote on the floor of the State Chamber, with two representatives refrain. Now it must be approved by the Senate of the State of Arizona and signed by Governor Katie Hobbs, a Democrat.
The Arizona Medical Association said Friday that it is “optimistic” that the bill will succeed in the Senate, and added that it would put in its place “important patient safeguards” for health professionals.
“Patients deserve medical attention delivered by humans with compassionate medical experience, not computer -based computer algorithms designed by insurance companies,” said Shelby Job, communications director of the association, in a statement. “While AI promises innovation for several areas of medical care, the review and denial of medical insurance claims, some of which represent treatments and procedures that change life, should be left to doctors who can make clinical judgments nuanced ”
State representative Julie Willoughby, Republican, sponsored the legislation, and told the Chamber Committee of the Chamber at the beginning of this month that he expects the bill to protect the Arizonians from losing access to medical care due to interference of ia.
“What we are asking about in this is that any statement that is denied that a supplier looks for them in search of integrity to ensure that there is nothing that the algorithm of AI may not have taken into account,” said Willoughby at a meeting of the committee on the committee on February 4.
The bill establishes that a medical care provider must “individually review each claim or prior authorization” before a medical care insurer can deny a claim for that patient.
The American Medical Association has requested greater supervision in the use of artificial intelligence by Heath insurance companies since 2023 when it was revealed that Cigna, an important medical care insurance group, had denied more than 30,000 claims during a process of review that used artificial intelligence.
Even so, experts say that there is still little state or federal supervision of “both the development and the use of algorithms by health insurers,” wrote Carmel Shache, assistant clinical professor of the Harvard Law Faculty, for Affairs for Affairs Health
Arizona’s legislation occurs weeks after California promulgated its own version of the bill, which entered into force on January 1.
Governor Gavin Newsom, a Democrat, signed legislation in September to ensure that a license supervises the use of AI decision -making tools when used to “inform the decisions of approving, modifying or denying the applications of suppliers ”
California state senator Josh Becker, a Democrat, wrote the bill, arguing that AI has “immense potential to improve the provision of medical care, but should never replace the experience and judgment of doctors.”
“An algorithm cannot completely understand the unique medical history or needs of a patient, and their misuse can lead to devastating consequences,” Becker said in a statement on the approval of the bill.
Following the California Law, legislation has also been introduced into at least 11 states to withdraw the use of artificial intelligence in the review of medical claims.
A Texas bill, presented by state senator Charles Schwertner, a Republican, affirms that an algorithm based on artificial intelligence should not be used as the “exclusive basis of a decision to deny, delay or modify in a total or partly Medical care services “.
Although the bill has not yet been approved, the coalition of Texas patients celebrated its introduction last month, saying in a statement that it was “crucial to ensure that medical care decisions that alter life remain in the hands of professionals doctors instead of large insurance automated systems.
