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Privacy & Security Tips

Navigating the Legal and Ethical Labyrinth of AI in Health Care

AI has the potential to improve health care, but how do clinicians implement it in a way that satisfies our legal and accountability obligations while fostering trust with patients? Here are some potential approaches to strike the right balance between progress and governance.

  • Practical solutions are needed to foster AI innovation and build trust in AI tools. Humans need to trust AI technologies and the use of the data feeding the algorithms. This includes creating legal, regulatory, and governance mechanisms that identify the benefits of a technology and promote confidence in its use.
  • Governance guardrails should be flexible to keep pace with AI's evolutionary nature but tailored to its use. AI governance must consider risks, be targeted to its use, adaptable and continuously monitored and updated. This could include implementing audit mechanisms, evaluating AI usage, establishing public and private structures for clear and transparent reporting and developing technical solutions that prioritize principles such as safety, privacy, equality, fairness and transparency. Allowing for a controlled environment where developers can innovate AI products while regulators can monitor provides another avenue for governance.
  • Change management and collaboration are crucial to achieve AI's potential and address concerns such as algorithmic bias and privacy issues. Open dialogue and fewer silos between stakeholders (including policymakers, regulators, technological developers, clinicians, advocacy groups and patients) are needed to facilitate the continuous adaptation necessary for keeping up with the workflow and regulatory challenges of AI. Collaboration between the technology industry and clinician users can serve to foster innovation and develop AI solutions that enhance patient care.
  • Patients must be engaged in the use of AI for their care. Patient interest and desire for transparency and control must be addressed in the use of AI in their care. In addition to obtaining express consent for the use of AI during medical visits, clinicians should communicate the reasons for use of the AI tool and assure patients of practices on data management. To foster transparency and enthusiastic acceptance of AI, open dialogue and consideration of patient perspectives should be solicited and considered.

Legal and ethical principles should serve as the bedrock of AI strategy in health care, underpinning governance efforts for a practical path for future implementation and adoption.

Read additional guidance from the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario on the use of AI scribes in clinical practice.