Healthcare & Pharma , Industries
AI in Healthcare: Ensuring Patients' Right to Know
Columbia University Bioethicist David Hoffman on AI Concerns in Clinical Settings
Artificial intelligence offers promising applications in healthcare, reducing clinicians' workloads and enhancing decision support, but concerns abound about AI pitfalls, such as decision substitution, in which AI tools could make choices typically reserved for clinicians, said David Hoffman, assistant professor of bioethics at Columbia University.
See Also: Building a Strategy for Cyber Resilience in Healthcare: Preparation, Survival, and Recovery
Patients often remain unaware of the role of AI technology in their healthcare decisions, raising ethical questions about informed consent. Hoffman called for clear distinctions between decision support and decision substitution to ensure ethical and responsible AI integration in healthcare.
"When we talk about systems that are making the healthcare provider more productive from a financial perspective, for example, the patient has a right to know that the way care is being generated within that healthcare system is influenced by efficiency, productivity and financial considerations," he said.
In this video interview with Information Security Media Group at the 2024 Healthcare Cybersecurity Summit, Hoffman also discussed:
- Why it is vital to identify red lines for AI application in healthcare;
- Why healthcare organizations need checks and balances to ensure AI's safe, ethical and secure use;
- How the competitive landscape in the healthcare industry is driving AI adoption.
Hoffman, a healthcare lawyer and clinical ethicist in New York, works as general counsel and oversees compliance at Claxton-Hepburn. He is also a clinical assistant professor at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine, where he teaches in the fields of law, medicine and ethics.
