Report on Proposed AI in Healthcare Legislation and its Alignment with Sustainable Development Goals

Executive Summary

A bipartisan group of five lawmakers in Pennsylvania has announced forthcoming legislation to regulate the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in the healthcare sector. The proposal is designed to establish a governance framework that ensures AI is used responsibly and ethically. This initiative directly addresses several United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), particularly those concerning health, equality, and institutional strength, by prioritizing human oversight, transparency, and the mitigation of systemic bias in medical decision-making.

Legislative Objectives and Contribution to SDG 3: Good Health and Well-being

The primary goal of the proposed legislation is to ensure that the integration of AI into healthcare enhances patient care without compromising safety or ethical standards, a core tenet of SDG 3 (Good Health and Well-being). While acknowledging AI’s potential to improve diagnostics, streamline administrative tasks to reduce physician burnout, and advance precision medicine, the lawmakers express concern over an overreliance on the technology. The bill seeks to create a framework where innovation supports, rather than replaces, the critical judgment of healthcare professionals.

• The legislation aims to ensure AI is used to elevate care quality and improve patient outcomes.
• It recognizes the need to manage the rapid expansion of the AI healthcare market, projected to reach $188 billion by 2030, in a sustainable and human-centric manner.
• By mandating human oversight, the bill ensures that technology serves as a tool to support clinicians, contributing to decent work conditions (SDG 8) and ultimately fostering better health outcomes for all (SDG 3).

Addressing Systemic Bias: A Focus on SDG 10: Reduced Inequalities

A significant emphasis of the proposed bill is the prevention of bias and discrimination, which directly aligns with SDG 10 (Reduced Inequalities). The lawmakers highlight evidence that AI systems can perpetuate and amplify existing societal biases, potentially leading to inequitable healthcare access and outcomes for marginalized communities. The legislation confronts this challenge by mandating accountability.

Provisions for Mitigating Bias

1. Insurers will be required to provide an attestation to the Pennsylvania Department of Insurance that bias in their use of AI has been minimized.
2. Hospitals and clinicians must provide a similar attestation to the Pennsylvania Department of Health.
3. Crucially, these entities must also provide evidence demonstrating how the determination of minimized bias was made, ensuring a substantive review process.

These measures are designed to ensure that AI does not become a tool for discrimination, thereby promoting fairness and equality within the healthcare system.

Framework for Responsible Governance and Innovation (SDG 9 & SDG 16)

The proposed bill represents a critical step in building effective, accountable, and transparent institutions, a key target of SDG 16 (Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions). By establishing clear rules for AI deployment, the legislation creates a framework for responsible governance of a transformative technology. This regulatory clarity also supports SDG 9 (Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure) by fostering an environment where innovation can proceed ethically and sustainably.

Key Mandates of the Proposed Legislation

• Human-in-the-Loop Requirement: A human healthcare professional must make the ultimate clinical decision based on an individualized assessment, preventing full automation of critical patient care choices.
• Transparency: Insurers, hospitals, and clinicians must be transparent about how and when they use AI in their processes.
• Accountability: The attestation requirements create a clear line of accountability for the ethical implementation of AI tools.

National Context and Future Outlook

Pennsylvania’s legislative effort is part of a growing national movement to regulate AI in healthcare. Other states have already enacted laws to govern the use of this technology. For instance, Utah requires disclosure when patients interact with AI chatbots, and Colorado law grants patients the right to appeal healthcare decisions in which AI was a contributing factor. This trend underscores a collective recognition that robust legal and ethical guardrails are necessary to harness the benefits of AI while protecting fundamental human rights and advancing global sustainable development objectives.

SDGs Addressed in the Article

SDG 3: Good Health and Well-being

• The article’s central theme is the regulation of artificial intelligence in healthcare to ensure patient safety and improve care quality. It discusses how AI can be used to monitor heart signals, detect heart attacks, and improve patient outcomes, which directly relates to ensuring healthy lives. The legislation aims to make sure AI is used “responsibly and effectively” to support clinicians and patients.

SDG 10: Reduced Inequalities

• A primary concern highlighted is that AI usage in healthcare could “reinforce bias and discrimination.” The proposed legislation explicitly aims to address this by requiring institutions to attest that “bias and discrimination in their use of AI have been minimized,” directly tackling the issue of inequality in access to and quality of healthcare.

SDG 9: Industry, Innovation, and Infrastructure

• The article discusses the rapid growth and significant investment in AI as a technology, noting it is “expected to become a $188 billion industry worldwide by 2030.” It describes how AI is an innovation that can “enhance all aspects of human life, including the health care space.” The legislative effort is framed as creating a “framework to support innovation” while ensuring it is deployed responsibly.

SDG 16: Peace, Justice, and Strong Institutions

• The article is about the creation of legislation and regulations by lawmakers to govern the use of AI. This involves building “effective, accountable and transparent institutions.” The proposed bill mandates “transparency in how they use AI” and requires human oversight, which are cornerstones of strong and just institutional governance.

Specific SDG Targets Identified

SDG 3: Good Health and Well-being

1. Target 3.8: Achieve universal health coverage, including financial risk protection, access to quality essential health-care services… The article connects to this target by focusing on ensuring the quality and safety of healthcare services that use AI. The proposed bill aims to “protect patients and provide the guardrails needed to ensure AI is used responsibly and effectively,” which is fundamental to providing quality care.
2. Target 3.c: Substantially increase health financing and the recruitment, development, training and retention of the health workforce… The article mentions that AI assistants can save physicians significant time on administrative tasks, which is a “leading cause of physician burnout.” By addressing burnout, AI can help with the retention of the health workforce, supporting this target.

SDG 10: Reduced Inequalities

1. Target 10.3: Ensure equal opportunity and reduce inequalities of outcome, including by eliminating discriminatory laws, policies and practices and promoting appropriate legislation… This target is directly addressed by the proposed bill. The article states the legislation’s purpose is to prevent AI from being used to “perpetuate potentially harmful biases” and requires institutions to attest that “bias and discrimination in their use of AI have been minimized.” The bill itself is the “appropriate legislation” mentioned in the target.

SDG 9: Industry, Innovation, and Infrastructure

1. Target 9.5: Enhance scientific research, upgrade the technological capabilities of industrial sectors… encouraging innovation… The article highlights how AI facilitates a “comprehensive understanding of disease biology and patient pathology, advancing precision medicine.” The legislation is described as an effort to “create a framework to support innovation, but not at the expense of human life,” directly linking to the goal of fostering responsible technological upgrades and innovation.

SDG 16: Peace, Justice, and Strong Institutions

1. Target 16.6: Develop effective, accountable and transparent institutions at all levels. The proposed legislation explicitly mandates transparency. It would “require insurers, hospitals and clinicians to be transparent in how they use AI.” This measure is a direct attempt to build accountability and transparency into the healthcare system as it adopts new technologies.

Implied Indicators for Measuring Progress

SDG 3: Good Health and Well-being

• Indicator: The requirement for “a human to make the ultimate decision based on an individualized assessment.” Progress can be measured by the rate of compliance with this human oversight rule in clinical decisions involving AI.
• Indicator: Reduction in physician time spent on administrative tasks. The article notes AI can save physicians an average of 2 hours a day, which can be measured to track progress on reducing physician burnout.

SDG 10: Reduced Inequalities

• Indicator: The submission of attestations to the Pennsylvania Department of Insurance and Department of Health. The number and quality of these attestations, along with the “evidence of how that determination was made,” serve as a direct indicator of institutional efforts to minimize bias.

SDG 9: Industry, Innovation, and Infrastructure

• Indicator: The rate of adoption of AI tools by healthcare providers. The article gives the example of UPMC using “Microsoft’s Dax CoPilot.” Tracking the percentage of hospitals and clinics that implement such innovative tools can measure progress.

SDG 16: Peace, Justice, and Strong Institutions

• Indicator: The number of healthcare institutions that have published their policies on AI usage. The requirement for transparency implies that institutions must make their AI usage clear. This can be measured by auditing the public disclosures of hospitals and insurers.

SDGs, Targets, and Indicators Analysis

Source: goerie.com