Your New Therapist: Chatty, Leaky, and Hardly Human
With high demand for mental health care, a wave of artificial intelligence-powered chatbots are being marketed as therapy apps — with little evidence they work and few regulations.
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Watch: As AI Makes More Health Coverage Decisions, the Risks to Patients Grow
Major health insurers and even Medicare are using artificial intelligence to make coverage decisions. But class action lawsuits have accused insurers of using AI to wrongfully withhold treatment, and new research illuminates the risks.
By Darius Tahir and Hannah Norman -
Trump’s Transparent Hospital Pricing Pays Off for Industry — But Not So Much for Patients
Get our weekly newsletter, The Week in Brief, featuring a roundup of our original coverage, Fridays at 2 p.m. ET.
By Darius Tahir -
Red and Blue States Alike Want To Limit AI in Insurance. Trump Wants To Limit the States.
A revolt is afoot in both red and blue states against the use of artificial intelligence in health insurance determinations — and against efforts led by President Donald Trump to tie states’ hands.
By Darius Tahir and Lauren Sausser -
Trump Required Hospitals To Post Their Prices for Patients. Mostly It’s the Industry Using the Data.
Politicians have pushed for price transparency in health care. But instead of patients shopping for services, it’s mostly health systems and insurers that are using the information, as fodder for negotiations over pay.
By Darius Tahir -
Under Kennedy, America’s Health Department Is in the Business of Promoting Kennedy
Under Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the Department of Health and Human Services increasingly uses its social media channels to promote Kennedy himself and his agenda. Interviews with over 20 former and current employees provide a look inside an agency where personality and politics steer communications with the public.
By Darius Tahir -
AI Will Soon Have a Say in Approving or Denying Medicare Treatments
A pilot program testing the use of artificial intelligence to expand prior authorization decisions in Medicare has providers, politicians, and researchers questioning Trump administration promises to curb an unpopular practice that has frustrated patients and their doctors.
By Lauren Sausser and Darius Tahir -
Social Security Praises Its New Chatbot. Ex-Officials Say It Was Tested but Shelved Under Biden.
Social Security, under the leadership of a tech enthusiast, rolled out an artificial intelligence-powered chatbot to answer calls. But as beneficiaries complain about glitches, lawmakers and former officials ask whether it’s a preview of a less human agency at which rushed-out AI takes the place of pushed-out government workers.
By Darius Tahir -
A Million Veterans Gave DNA To Aid Health Research. Scientists Worry the Data Will Be Wasted.
Retired service members donated genetic material to help answer health questions for not only others in the military but all Americans, creating one of the largest repositories of health data in the world. The Trump administration is dragging its heels on agreements to analyze it with supercomputers.
By Darius Tahir -
Call Centers Replaced Many Doctors’ Receptionists. Now, AI Is Coming for Call Centers.
Artificial intelligence products with lifelike voices are being marketed to schedule or cancel medical visits, refill prescriptions, and help triage patients. Soon, many patients might initiate contact with the health system by speaking not with a human but with AI.
By Darius Tahir -
At Social Security, These Are the Days of the Living Dead
In recent weeks, Social Security has been plagued by problems related to technology, system errors, and even the marking of living people as dead.
By Darius Tahir -
In Trump’s Team, Supplement Fans Find Kindred Spirits in Search of Better Health
President Donald Trump’s health team has deep financial ties to the supplements industry. Now they’re poised to boost its growth and remake the government’s approach to health.
By Darius Tahir -
Telehealth Companies Boost Ad Spending While Taking on More Complex Medicine
Telehealth startups including Ro and Nurx are spending millions to promote themselves as easy dispensers of medicines. Some companies offer care for birth control, sexual dysfunction, and more complex conditions, including behavioral health disorders and obesity.
By Darius Tahir -
Health Care AI, Intended To Save Money, Turns Out To Require a Lot of Expensive Humans
Despite the hype over artificial intelligence in medicine, the systems require consistent monitoring and staffing to put in place and maintain. Checking whether an algorithm has developed the software equivalent of a blown gasket can be complicated — and expensive.
By Darius Tahir -
TV’s Dr. Oz Invested in Businesses Regulated by Agency Trump Wants Him To Lead
Celebrity doctor Mehmet Oz recently held broad investments in health care, tech, and food companies. Were he confirmed to run the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, his job would involve interacting with giants of the industry that have contributed to his wealth.
By Darius Tahir -
Trump Leads, and His Party Follows, on Vaccine Skepticism
Former President Donald Trump has presided over a landslide shift in Republican views on vaccines, reflected in false claims by candidates in election primaries, puzzling conspiracies from prominent conservatives, and a surge in anti-vaccine policies in statehouses.
By Darius Tahir -
Cyberattacks Plague the Health Industry. Critics Call Feds’ Response Feeble and Fractured.
Health care weathered more ransomware attacks last year than any other sector, and that was before a debilitating February hack of payments manager Change Healthcare. Executives, lawyers, and policymakers are worried the federal government’s response is underpowered, underfunded, and too focused on hospital security.
By Darius Tahir -
Oh, Dear! Baby Gear! Why Are the Manuals So Unclear?
Sure, new parents are an anxious lot. But instruction manuals for devices meant to keep the baby safe and healthy are daunting and add to the anxiety. Why are they so confusing?
By Darius Tahir -
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Biden Team, UnitedHealth Struggle to Restore Paralyzed Billing Systems After Cyberattack
The cyberattack on a unit of UnitedHealth Group’s Optum division is the worst on the health care industry in U.S. history, hospitals say. Providers struggling to get paid for care say the response by the insurer and the Biden administration has been inadequate.
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