The US state of California has passed a law that ensures health insurance claims cannot be denied by artificial intelligence tools alone.
This follows widespread anger at how many claims are arbitrarily rejected, many of them by autonomous AI tools. Last year alone, about one-quarter of healthcare insurance claims in California were denied.
Now, a new state law aims to bring the human touch back, by stating that a human perspective must be included and rejected claims can no longer be made by AI alone.
The “Physicians Make Decisions Act” doesn’t outlaw the use of AI technology, but rules that human judgment remains central to coverage decisions. As a result, AI tools cannot be used to deny, delay or alter health care services deemed medically necessary by doctors.