Mike Crapo Questions HHS Nom About Utilizing Artificial Intelligence To Enhance U.S. Healthcare

Forbes Breaking News

During Tuesday’s Senate Finance Committee hearing, Sen. Mike Crapo (R-ID) questioned James O'Neill, nominee to be Deputy Secretary of Health and Human Services, about using artificial intelligence within the nation’s healthcare industry.

Transcript

00:00Mr. Andres, I'll start with you, Mr. O'Neill, and I'd like to talk about artificial intelligence first.

00:05You referred to that in your testimony.

00:08AI presents vast opportunities across all sectors of American society, and that includes health care.

00:14AI-enabled innovations can enhance provider clinical decision-making and expand access to health care in rural areas.

00:22It can also be helpful in bolstering program integrity practices in federal health programs

00:26by curbing the waste, fraud, and abuse that harms patients and taxpayers.

00:31Mr. O'Neill, you're a leader in health care and aging research with valuable experience

00:36in working with emerging health technologies.

00:40How can Congress support the Department's efforts to develop and deploy AI tools

00:44within the Medicare and Medicaid programs?

00:48Thank you for the question, Senator.

00:50It's true.

00:51Artificial intelligence as well as neural nets and other machine learning technologies

00:57have an immense potential in improving the delivery of health care, the accuracy and speed of research,

01:03and the operations of the department.

01:07It's something I heard about from many of your colleagues in meetings over the past month.

01:11So, you asked specifically about Medicare and Medicaid.

01:17It's important that all decisions made by CMS, as well as by other affiliated entities that are involved

01:24in delivering and reimbursing Medicare and Medicaid, are able to make quick and accurate decisions

01:32for millions of beneficiaries, and I think artificial intelligence always has the potential

01:39in helping human actors be faster and make better informed and more objective decisions.

01:48And, Mr. Andres, I'd like to talk to you about timeliness.

01:54I suspect you're very familiar with the dynamic I'm going to describe to you,

01:58but the HHS Secretary annually testifies before the Finance Committee

02:02on the President's proposed budget blueprint.

02:05During former Secretary Becerra's tenure, responses to written questions for the record

02:10were not delivered in a timely manner.

02:13The most egregious example occurred last year.

02:17The FY2024 HHS budget hearing took place on March 22, 2023.

02:23Answers to members' questions were not submitted for the record.

02:28Were not received until February 22, 2024, 11 months later.

02:36Even more troubling, former Secretary Becerra was scheduled to testify on President Biden's

02:41FY2025 budget blueprint 10 days later in March 2024.

02:49Understanding that HHS staff needs sufficient time to prepare clear responses,

02:53a year seems to me to be pretty excessive.

02:55Will you commit to responding in a more timely fashion to members' questions for the record?

03:02Senator Capo, thank you for that question.

03:06And one thing I wanted to add to his context is that as I've gone around

03:11and met with senators on this committee and with their staff,

03:16the concern that you're raising has been something I've heard over and over and over again.

03:22So, number one, I'm aware of that and I'm sensitive to it.

03:26Number two, I think both from my positions as working as a congressional staffer,

03:33I understand the importance of timely responses to congressional inquiries.

03:42I also know that from my White House tenure, that was something that you always heard about from the agencies as well.

03:50I do commit that I will try to the best of my ability to be as responsive and accountable and timely and transparent as possible.

04:01Well, thank you very much.

04:02And that question and your response focused on the response to us, to our questions and concerns.

04:07I'd like to ask about another aspect of it.

04:11Given your extensive experience on Capitol Hill, how do you plan to continue fostering strong relationships?

04:17And I'm focusing on this.

04:18How would you ensure that our concerns, as we raise them, are clearly and efficiently communicated to the secretary?

04:28So, one of the things that I would like to do, if confirmed in this position, Senator,

04:34is be more available and present myself up here on Capitol Hill.

04:41I think a lot of times, one of the things I've observed over the years is that in positions like this,

04:48you can tend to get pinned down very much inside the department or inside the building

04:53and not have the kind of visibility that I think is important to hear what the preferences and needs are

05:03of the folks on the Hill.

05:05So, that's one way I will try to do that and try to be more present to you,

05:12to other senators of this committee and the Senate overall, as well as your staff.

05:17All right.

05:17Thank you very much.

05:18My time has expired.

05:19Thank you very much.

05:20Thank you very much.

05:21Thank you very much.

05:22Thank you very much.

05:23Thank you very much.

05:24Thank you very much.

05:25Thank you very much.

05:26Thank you very much.

05:27Thank you very much.

05:28Thank you very much.

05:29Thank you very much.

05:30Thank you very much.

05:31Thank you very much.

05:32Thank you very much.

05:33Thank you very much.

05:34Thank you very much.

05:35Thank you very much.

05:36Thank you very much.

05:37Thank you very much.

05:39Thank you very much.

Category

Transcript

Recommended