Even if your physician practice or health system already has processes in place for adopting new technologies, it would be valuable to review and update those procedures when it comes to implementing new health care augmented intelligence (AI) tools.
The AMA defines health care AI as augmented intelligence to emphasize that AI’s role is to help health care professionals, not replace them. As novel and groundbreaking as these technologies can be, it is essential for physician leaders and health care organizations to approach them using the disciplined approach they take with other innovations that have the potential to advance care or improve efficiency.
“There has to be a way—whatever that looks like for the organization—to integrate it somehow into existing processes such that the folks that are integrating it and those who are using it have the right resources to do the work,” explained Margaret Lozovatsky, MD, who is chief medical information officer and vice president of digital health innovations at the AMA.
That includes everything from how it fits into the budget to how it fits into an organization’s strategic goals.
“AI has some unique features and the organization needs to think about how to manage that and make sure that everyone is moving in the same direction,” Dr. Lozovatsky said.
From clinical duties to administrative tasks, health care AI is rapidly making its way into clinical settings. In 2024, 66% of physicians reported using health care AI in their practices, up from 38% who said they used it just a year earlier.
A toolkit from the AMA can help organizations update standard planning and implementation processes. The AMA STEPS Forward® “Governance for Augmented Intelligence” toolkit, developed in collaboration with Manatt Health, is a comprehensive eight-step guide for health care systems to establish a governance framework to implement, manage and scale AI solutions.
The foundational pillars of responsible AI governance are:
- Establishing executive accountability and structure.
- Forming a working group to detail priorities, processes and policies.
- Assessing current policies.
- Developing AI policies.
- Defining project intake, vendor evaluation and assessment processes.
- Updating standard planning and implementation processes.
- Establishing an oversight and monitoring process.
- Supporting AI organizational readiness.
From AI implementation to EHR adoption and usability, the AMA is fighting to make technology work for physicians, ensuring that it is an asset to doctors.
How to update your processes
Dr. Lozovatsky said the planning and implementation process can’t be done in a silo, as was so often done when digital health entered the health care arena.
“It often had its own team and they were doing all this great work. They would come back to the IT team and the IT team already had its own roadmap for the next five years and didn’t have the resources to do the project,” Dr. Lozovatsky said. “It wasn’t aligned with any strategic initiatives and it kind of lived in its own universe.”
The AMA toolkit offers advice to help organizations determine how their AI working group can coordinate with other technology committees and the project management office to review and update standard procedures to incorporate specific AI considerations, including:
- Project plan, budget and timeline. Organizations that have a standard template may need to adapt it for AI projects.
- Testing and validation. Test new technology in a single department, patient population, clinical group or data set first. Measures to assess the tool include clinician and patient experience and workflow impact.
- Review and final approval of full-scale implementation. The project sponsor or clinical champion presents outcomes to the governance committee to determine if the tool is ready for wider implementation.
- Implementation and go-live planning. A detailed plan is essential so the organization is prepared for the new tool.
- Change management. It’s critical to have a plan to address potential workflow disruptions.
- Team member engagement and training. It’s important that teams get the training needed to use the AI tool effectively and safely and to integrate it into workflows.
- Performance monitoring. Establish how the organization will track metrics and manage reporting.
The toolkit also links to a downloadable project management worksheet to help medical practices organize team member roles and responsibilities, identify project milestones and prioritize essential tasks.
Find out how participants in the AMA Health System Member Program are using AI to make meaningful change.
What drives AMA’s health AI work
In addition to fighting on the legislative front to help ensure that technology is an asset to physicians and not a burden, the AMA has adopted policy (PDF) that addresses the development, deployment and use of health care AI, with particular emphasis on:
- Health care AI oversight.
- When and what to disclose to advance AI transparency.
- Generative AI policies and governance.
- Physician liability for use of AI-enabled technologies.
- AI data privacy and cybersecurity.
- Payer use of AI and automated decision-making systems.
Learn more with the AMA about the emerging landscape of health care AI. Also, explore how to apply AI to transform health care with the “AMA ChangeMedEd® Artificial Intelligence in Health Care Series.”
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