Digital health experts recommend establishment of a National AI in Healthcare Council
Launched today
A national plan for the safe and ethical use of artificial intelligence (AI) in healthcare will be launched today 22 November 2023 at the leading AI in healthcare conference, AI.Care, in Melbourne.
Professor Enrico Coiera, Director at the Australian Institute of Health Innovation, Macquarie University, and founder of the Australian Alliance for AI in Healthcare (AAAiH) will deliver the report on policy recommendations including the establishment of a National AI in Healthcare Council.
Professor Coiera said “Australia needs to urgently prioritise the governance of AI in healthcare in order to safeguard patients and support our digital health sector.”
Policy recommendations from the ‘National Policy Roadmap for AI in Healthcare’ include:
- adoption of a unified approach to AI safety, quality and ethics so that healthcare AI does not harm patients;
- establishment of strategies to improve AI literacy in health for consumers and the clinical workforce;
- support of the local healthcare AI industry to grow, successfully navigating between investment in innovation and the requirements for compliance and regulation; and
- building on the research and development sector to generate the evidence, technologies and products that will underpin AI-driven healthcare and enable Australia to retain world-class sovereign capability.
Key to these recommendations is the establishment of a National AI in Healthcare Council to coordinate and harmonise the responsibilities and activities of those existing entities responsible for oversight of AI safety, effectiveness and ethical and security risks.
“While Australia has a number of regulatory and government agencies responsible for some aspects of AI, a coordinated system wide approach is the only way to ensure protection of patients, optimisation of our health workforce and the growth of a healthcare specific AI industry,” Professor Coiera said.
“The UK and USA have already invested billions in their healthcare AI sectors and we must use the next two years to get back in the game”, he said.
The Roadmap was developed by AAAiH after extensive consultation with representatives from federal, state and territory government departments, research, regulatory and professional bodies, as well as consumer and industry representatives.
“AI offers significant new opportunities for improving clinical diagnosis, treatment, and workflows. It holds the potential to turn Australian healthcare into a learning system that is more agile, adaptive, personalised, safe, effective, and equitable, across research and development, into clinical settings and at home for patients and their families,” he said.
Professor Coiera will present the plenary at the Australasian Institute of Digital Health conference, AI.Care, today and participate in a panel discussion on the Roadmap with the following digital health leaders:
- Prof Enrico Coiera - Professor of Medical Informatics and Director, Centre for Health Informatics at the Australian Institute of Health Innovation, Macquarie University
- Prof Karin Verspoor - Executive Dean, School of Computing Technologies, RMIT University
- Mr Neville Board, Chief Digital Health and Information Officer, Justice Health and Forensic Mental Health Network NSW
- Prof Farah Magrabi, Professor of Biomedical and Health Informatics, Australian Institute of Health Innovation
- Ms Tracey Duffy, First Assistant Secretary, Therapeutic Goods Administration
- Dr Elizabeth Deveny, CEO, Consumer Health Forum
- Facilitated by Dr David Hansen, CEO and Research Director, Australian e-Health Research Centre at CSIRO
AAAiH is an international community of practice with over 100 member organisations drawn from industry, health service providers, academia and consumer organisations.
AAAiH has been supported in development of the National Policy Roadmap for AI in Healthcare by Macquarie University, the CSIRO Australian eHealth Research Centre, RMIT University, the Digital Health Cooperative Research Centre, and the Australasian Institute of Digital Health.
The National Policy Roadmap for AI in Healthcare is available here and with a link to the public Webinar here.
For media enquiries, or to receive a copy of the Roadmap, please contact Chrissy Clay at chrissy.clay@mq.edu.au
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