American Telemedicine Association Publishes New AI Principles

WASHINGTON—The American Telemedicine Association (ATA) today published new Artificial Intelligence Principles, to ensure trustworthy development, integration, and utilization of artificial intelligence (AI) in order to maximize its potential benefits as a meaningful tool for patients and providers.

“With today’s Executive Order issued by President Biden, to ensure the safe, secure, and trustworthy use of artificial intelligence, our timely release of the ATA’s AI Principles can help chart the way forward as the Administration works to create new standards for AI’s potentially game-changing capabilities,” said Kyle Zebley, senior vice president, public policy, the ATA. “AI is already being used in telehealth and its future potential is endless, especially to harness the reams of data that our healthcare system produces, including data collected from virtual care technologies, to improve health care delivery.

“The ATA supports policies, practices, and regulatory frameworks that enhance patient and provider trust, safety, and the efficacy of AI adoption as a tool in healthcare. The ATA and the ATA’s Data Work Group believe that utilizing AI in health care—including telehealth—can improve quality and service capability at every stage of the care journey. We stand ready to work with the Administration, Congress and other key stakeholders to advance the safe, appropriate and responsible use of AI in health care.”

Key components of the AI Principles include:

• Accountability and Engagement
• Transparency and Explainability
• Safeguards to Mitigate Against Bias
• Clear Regulatory Guardrails
• Economic and Workforce Evolution
• Privacy

Read the ATA’s new AI Principles here.

The ATA previously published Health Data Privacy Principles to ensure telehealth practices meet standards for patient safety, data privacy, and information security, while advancing patient access and building awareness of telehealth practices.

“The ATA’s Data Work Group, chaired by Aaron T. Maguregui, Senior Counsel, Foley & Lardner LLP, is doing important work to create a roadmap that will help to keep personal health information secure and protected from misuses,” Zebley said. “The Data Work Group’s AI Committee, chaired by Mujadala (MJ) Abdul-Majid, Strategy Counsel, Google, has added critical guidance on the deployment of AI used in telehealth and virtual care platforms is trustworthy, clinically appropriate and reliable.”