New AMA Guidance on AI Adoption and Governance Is Essential for CMOs. Here's Why.

With the brisk pace of artificial intelligence tool expansion, CMOs and other healthcare leaders should have policies in place for AI tool adoption and governance.

The American Medical Association (AMA) has released guidance for health systems and hospitals on artificial intelligence governance and adoption.

With the expansion of AI tools in healthcare, having AI governance and adoption policies in place is important for CMOs and other healthcare leaders. The rapid pace of change in AI tool adoption in healthcare makes these policies essential, according to the AMA.

"Technology is moving very, very quickly. It's moving much faster than we're able to actually implement these tools, so setting up an appropriate governance structure now is more important than it's ever been because we've never seen such quick rates of adoption," Margaret Lozovatsky, MD, chief medical information officer and vice president of digital health innovations at the AMA, said in the organization's guidance document.

The AMA says there are eight foundational elements for responsible AI adoption:

• Establishing accountability and structure for executives
   
• Forming a working group to detail priorities, processes and policies
   
• Assessing current policies for AI adoption
   
• Developing new policies for AI adoption
   
• Defining project intake, vendor evaluation and assessment processes
   
• Updating standard planning and implementation processes
   
• Establishing an oversight and monitoring process
   
• Supporting AI organizational readiness

How health systems are managing AI governance

AI governance has been a hot topic in the HealthLeaders AI in Clinical Care Mastermind program.

Providence is taking a comprehensive approach to AI governance, the health system's former chief clinical officer told HealthLeaders.

"Our approach to the use of AI tools is methodical and anchored in our mission, values, and organizational vision and priorities," said Hoda Asmar, MD, MBA, former executive vice president and system chief clinical officer for Providence. "While we believe AI advancements have the potential to elevate quality of care and allow our caregivers to perform at the top of their license, the safety and security of our patients and their data will always be our top priority."

Providence has assembled an AI governance structure to ensure alignment around priorities and strategy, patient safety, privacy, security, equity, and the ethical use of AI, Asmar said.

Several panels are involved in AI governance at Providence, including an AI guardrails workgroup led by the health system's chief data officer, an information protection committee led by the health system's chief information security officer, and a data ethics council led by the health system's chief ethicist.

Health systems should put a governance structure in place early in their AI adoption efforts, according to Patrick McGill, MD, MBA, executive vice president and chief transformation officer at Community Health Network.

"You need to have the governance in place to make sure that you understand all of the tools that are being used, how the tools are being used, the intended outcome of usage, and how you mitigate bias," McGill told HealthLeaders.

Community Health Network has an executive steering committee to help the health system identify and prioritize AI tools and use cases. The committee is led by the health system's director of AI and data governance, and members of the panel include McGill as well as the health system's CMO, CFO, chief physician executive, chief information officer, and technical staff from the IT and analytics departments.

Prior to establishing the executive steering committee, Community Health Network began the process of creating AI governance capabilities. "We have put in policies, procedures, and guardrails for the appropriate use of AI," McGill said.

UMass Memorial Health has also established an AI governance committee specifically designed to help conduct the adoption and implementation of AI tools in clinical care.

"We are establishing a policy and a process for working through the different kinds of AI tools that are being requested at the organization," Eric Alper, MD, chief quality officer and chief clinical informatics officer at UMass Memorial, told HealthLeaders. "The AI governance committee will help us implement AI tools in the safest way."

The health system's AI governance committee includes clinicians, IT staff, legal team members, risk management staff, ethicists, and staff who are focused on health equity.