AI’s Impact on Health Care: Challenges and Opportunities

Access Health presents notable developments and insights in artificial intelligence (AI) and health care. As AI integrates into health systems, it is crucial to address practical challenges, the current state of AI performance, and its implications for health care workflows.

Integrating AI into Health Care Workflows

A key theme in Newsweek’s AI Health Summit is the adaptation required by health care professionals as AI capabilities evolve. Questions rise about human responses when AI flags issues within workflows: Who acts on flagged concerns? How do clinicians adapt their roles when managing conditions once overseen by specialists? Additionally, if AI can draft clinical trial protocols rapidly, can associated administrative processes keep up?

While AI shows promise in specific tasks, incorporating these tools into existing health care systems is complex. Health systems and technology developers focus on these integrations, as traditional workflows and roles must adapt. The challenge lies in understanding who manages new processes and how decisions are enacted within these evolving structures.

AI Performance and Human Adaptation

The 2026 Stanford AI Index reveals significant advancements in AI performance across complex reasoning and software engineering challenges. On metrics measuring independent software problem-solving, performance rose sharply from 60% in 2024 to nearly full capability in 2025. AI’s rapid development contrasts with ongoing debates over change management strategies among health care leaders.

Dan Shoenthal of MD Anderson Cancer Center emphasizes health care leaders’ need for experimentation and adaptation to realize AI’s potential value. He encourages sharing experiences among providers, focusing less on acquiring the latest tools and more on understanding effective implementation.

AI in Medicare and Health Care Models

In Other News

Recent government records highlight widespread delays in the Medicare WISeR model, which employs AI for prior authorizations in six states. These delays, sometimes stretching beyond CMS’s 72-hour target, have prompted calls for improved testing and corrective measures to meet goals for timeliness, accuracy, and transparency. 

Separately, the CMS ACCESS model will expand its focus, covering conditions like heart failure and nicotine dependence. By deploying technology-supported care such as virtual monitoring, ACCESS aims to improve healthcare delivery.

Precision Oncology and AI Partnerships

Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center collaborates with OpenEvidence to advance precision oncology by integrating guidance directly into clinicians’ workflows. This partnership allows MSK’s curated oncology knowledge base to enhance OpenEvidence’s platform, offering deeper insights into genetic cancer alterations.

Such collaborations signify efforts to ensure AI technologies distribute specialized expertise more widely, allowing clinicians outside major centers to utilize MSK’s cancer-genomics interpretations effectively.

AI’s Role in Health Plans

Pulse Check

In a conversation with Bill Golden, former CEO of UnitedHealthcare, the potential of AI to streamline administrative processes in health insurance is explored. AI promises efficiency and accuracy, allowing health plans to focus on meaningful services that impact members directly.

Despite slow adoption, insurers recognize AI’s benefits in optimizing prior authorization and claims processing. Adjustments within health plans could influence broader ecosystem connections, suggesting a potential transformation in administrative efficiency.

Leadership Changes in the Health Sector

C-Suite Shuffles

Dr. David Skorton, AAMC President and CEO, announces his upcoming retirement. His leadership through the pandemic emphasized scientific integrity and healthcare respect.

Notable appoints Dr. Nicholas Desai as chief medical officer, leveraging his substantial executive experience. Beto López becomes the inaugural executive director at UH Health’s Institute for Digital Healthcare Transformation, bringing innovation-focused expertise.