The US Department of Health and Human Services announced a Request for Information asking for broad public input on how the agency can accelerate the adoption and use of artificial intelligence as part of clinical care for all Americans. The move is framed as part of President Trump’s commitment to maintaining American leadership in artificial intelligence and Secretary Kennedy’s vision to Make America Healthy Again, with a focus on deflating health care costs and improving the performance of the national health care system. The HHS Office of the Deputy Secretary, which leads the department’s artificial intelligence strategy, is coordinating the effort and positioning it as a key step in pushing the US health care system forward.
Through the Request for Information, HHS is asking stakeholders how the department should use its regulatory, reimbursement, and research & development levers across all of HHS to enable artificial intelligence adoption in clinical settings. The agency is seeking feedback on how artificial intelligence can improve patient and caregiver experiences and outcomes, reduce provider burden, improve quality of care, and reduce health care costs for both consumers and government. HHS Deputy Secretary Jim O’Neill described artificial intelligence as a transformative force for good and emphasized that efforts to accelerate adoption must be guided by the real needs and experiences of those developing the tools and delivering care.
As artificial intelligence driven technologies progress, HHS is underscoring the importance of interoperability and the protection of patient data under HIPAA, with officials stressing that data liquidity and trust in how data moves are essential for enabling artificial intelligence. The Request for Information asks for input on how digital health and software regulatory frameworks should evolve for artificial intelligence driven tools while maintaining patient safety, how reimbursement structures can be simplified and aligned to support efficient, deflationary technologies, and how research and development investments can strengthen implementation science and best practices, especially for complex or high acuity clinical scenarios. HHS is also encouraging medium and long term perspectives, including on conditions such as frailty or dementia that are expected to emerge or increase in prevalence, and says the responses will inform coordinated activities across all HHS divisions and complement the existing HHS artificial intelligence strategy by extending the “OneHHS” approach outward to the broader health care system.
