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The U.S. House is considering a new bill that could eventually expand use of artificial intelligence in health benefits administration.
The Healthcare Enhancement And Learning Through Harnessing Artificial Intelligence Act bill, or HEALTH AI Act bill, calls for the secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to establish a grant program for researchers studying ways to use generative AI technology to improve health care delivery, administration and finance systems. The current HHS secretary is Robert F Kennedy Jr.
The HEALTH AI Act grant program would pay for research on use of AI to improve the systems that help physicians and other health care providers take, compile and organize notes.
Researchers could also use the grants to study generative AI systems that would "expedite the health insurance claims process" and "improve the efficiency and quality of customer service in the health care sector," according to the bill text.
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The bill does not describe how much funding the grant program would have or the source of the funding.
The bill is under the jurisdiction of the House Energy and Commerce Committee and was introduced by Rep. Ted Lieu, D-Calif. The only cosponsor durrently listed is Rep. Ami Bera, D-Calif.
Lieu introduced an earlier version of the bill during the 118th Congress, which ended in December 2024.
Lieu had both Bera and Rep. Marcus Molinaro, R-N.Y., on the list of cosponsors for the earlier version. Molinaro's willingness to cosponsor the earlier version may be a sign that the idea of funding health administration AI research has some bipartisan support in Congress.
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