AHA urges White House to streamline AI rules in healthcare
WASHINGTON, UNITED STATES — The American Hospital Association (AHA) has called on the White House to simplify and align artificial intelligence (AI) regulations in the healthcare sector, warning that overly restrictive rules could slow innovation, increase costs, and limit patient access to care.
In a detailed letter to the Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP), the association representing nearly 5,000 hospitals and 2 million healthcare workers urged federal agencies to synchronize policies, remove redundant regulations, and foster a balanced framework that supports both innovation and safety.
AHA calls for flexible, coordinated AI oversight
The AHA applauded the administration’s acknowledgment that excessive regulation has inflated administrative costs, now topping $1 trillion annually, and has pushed many hospitals into financial distress.
“Reducing unnecessary regulation can improve the sustainability of our healthcare system,” the organization stated, noting that nearly 40% of United States hospitals operate with negative margins.
To address this, the AHA outlined four key recommendations: synchronizing AI policy with existing frameworks, removing regulatory barriers, ensuring safe and effective AI use, and investing in infrastructure for digital readiness.
The association emphasized that AI tools, from clinical documentation aids to diagnostic algorithms, are already making measurable improvements in care delivery.
The group cautioned against creating new layers of oversight that could stifle progress.
“Developing separate AI frameworks could inadvertently add redundancy and inefficiency,” the AHA wrote, urging OSTP to align AI oversight with established standards such as HIPAA and the Food and Drug Administration’s medical device protocols.
Hospitals warn against excessive health AI regulation
The AHA also pressed for a measured approach to cybersecurity, opposing mandatory hospital-focused requirements.
“The now well-documented source of cybersecurity risk in the healthcare sector is from vulnerabilities in third-party technology, not hospitals’ primary systems,” the letter noted.
Instead, it urged the White House to focus on voluntary, consensus-based cybersecurity standards that apply to all health sector entities, including vendors that handle patient data.
The organization also advocated for full federal preemption of conflicting state privacy laws and for the inclusion of trained clinicians in AI decision-making loops to avoid inappropriate care denials.
“It is imperative that any recommendation to deny care, whether it is or is not AI-generated, is independently reviewed by a clinician,” the AHA stressed.
Aligned AI governance echoes global outsourcing trends
The AHA’s request for aligned AI governance can be considered a signal of a global policy shift, with the main concern being the efficiency of the entire system.
Following a similar path to outsourcing, which has positively impacted the economies of some countries, like South Africa, America is also looking to achieve operational breakthroughs through innovation and technology in its healthcare system.
The adoption of a more efficient AI regulatory framework by professionals could parallel the aforementioned sectors in delivering cost savings, improved access to services, and even small health-tech areas that may already witness significant change in the overall impact of the outsourcing industry worldwide.
