Pennsylvania House passes bill requiring patients be informed of AI use in health care decisions

(The Center Square) - Health care patients would have to be told when a facility is using artificial intelligence to make clinical decisions under a bill that got strong bipartisan support Wednesday in passing the Pennsylvania House.

The provision was one of many in the wide-ranging bill focused largely on health care and insurance uses of AI and sponsored by Democratic Rep. Arvind Venkat of Allegheny County. Meanwhile, a separate resolution to push back against President Trump's desire for a moratorium on state-level regulation of AI also got strong bipartisan support.

Venkat, an emergency room physician by training, said AI is the "defining technological advancement of our time." The bill to regulate its use in health care, he said, would help make sure "AI is being deployed for the public good" and not just for "a small, powerful, and hyper-wealthy elite."

The bill would, among other things:

• Require a health care facility to disclose to patients when AI is used for clinical decision-making.
• Require health care facilities using AI in clinical decisions and insurers using it for service reviews to file compliance statements with state government.
• Require that any decision to terminate benefits for health care service must involve a review by a human being, and not just rely on AI. Furthermore, a human health care provider cannot be penalized for making a recommendation that contradicts one from AI. 
• Require that AI used by health care facilities, insurers, and federally funded insurance programs comply with the new law.

The vote on the bill was 144-59. Forty-one Republicans joined all Democrats in support.

It now goes to the Senate for consideration.

The action happened in a Pennsylvania environment where consumers have no legal right to know if AI is being used in their care. One retiree in Hummelstown told The Center Square he suspected - but was not sure - that AI was behind significant changes in a prescription for medicine and repeated deliveries and charges for medical supplies he did not order.

"Candidly, the public does not trust that artificial intelligence is being deployed for its benefit," Venkat told fellow lawmakers Wednesday. And there was nothing in the bill, he said, that would preclude AI innovation.

Republican Rep. Jason Ortitay of Washington County said the bill wasn't perfect but was a "solid first, balanced step" that could be altered in the Senate. The status quo with AI in health care, he said, is not acceptable.

"Trust comes from knowing there is still a real person on the other end," Ortitay said. Should the bill get the governor's signature, he said, when "AI is helping make decisions about your care, you will be told."

The resolution concerning Trump's proposed stoppage of state AI regulations was sponsored by Democratic Rep. Jim Haddock of Luzerne County. It amounted to direct pushback against an executive order issued by Trump late last year that pressured states to stay away from regulating AI.

At the time, Sen. Jay Costa of Allegheny County, the top Democrat in the Senate, called the announcement "an abuse of power."

The resolution urges the White House and the U.S. Department of Justice to cease threats to sue or withhold money from states that pass AI-related laws.

On Wednesday, 28 Republicans joined all 103 Democrats in supporting the resolution.