Despite ongoing debates around AI regulation, AI in Healthcare: A Cross-Agency Roundtable—a closed-door convening that brought together more than fifty leaders from government, healthcare, and industry under Chatham House rules—found substantial common ground across government and industry. Participants in a group of more than 50 health leaders repeatedly returned to three shared priorities: stronger public-private coordination, greater clarity, and building trust in AI-enabled healthcare.
Federal participants included Tom Keane and Mark Atalla (Office of the National Coordinator); Arman Sharma and Arda Kara (Health & Human Services); Stephanie Carlton, Wylie van den Akker, Amy Gleason, and Joyce Lau (Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services); and Angie Krueger (Food and Drug Adiminstration). These leaders engaged directly with private-sector stakeholders to explore the opportunities and challenges of deploying AI across the healthcare system.
While participants brought different perspectives and priorities to the discussion, several clear areas of consensus emerged.
Public-Private and Interagency Coordination Will Determine Success
Clinical AI is advancing at a pace that far exceeds traditional policymaking. One of the clearest themes to emerge from the discussion was the importance of sustained coordination across federal agencies and with the private sector as AI moves from experimentation to deployment.
The discussion reinforced the importance of close collaboration among HHS, ONC, CMS, FDA, and healthcare stakeholders to develop practical, innovation-friendly policies that improve patient care while maintaining public trust. Participants agreed that regular engagement between government and industry can reduce uncertainty, prevent conflicting requirements, and create the conditions necessary for responsible innovation.
A National Framework for AI in Healthcare Is Essential
The discussion also revealed broad concern about the emergence of a fragmented state-by-state regulatory landscape for AI in healthcare.
There was broad consensus that a coordinated national framework for AI in healthcare is needed, one that establishes clear expectations, consistent standards, and the regulatory certainty organizations require to responsibly develop and deploy AI-enabled healthcare solutions at scale.
Trust is not a Byproduct of Innovation
If one theme cut across every aspect of the conversation, it was trust. AI's potential will only be fully realized if clinicians, patients, policymakers, and the broader public have genuine confidence in the technology.
Building and sustaining that trust will require transparent governance, high-quality data, strong privacy and security protections, and ongoing evidence that AI improves outcomes while reducing administrative burden. As participants made clear: trust is not a byproduct of innovation; it is a prerequisite for adoption.
The discussion highlighted the complexity of integrating AI into healthcare, but it also revealed a notable degree of alignment across government and industry. Participants agreed that realizing AI's potential will require coordination, regulatory clarity, and trust. The Chamber will continue to convene leaders across sectors to help advance those conversations and support responsible innovation in healthcare.
There are still real policy debates ahead, but this conversation revealed meaningful alignment on several foundational issues.
Organizations represented included:
- Health and Human Services (HHS)
- Office of the National Coordinator (ONC)
- Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS)
- Food and Drug Administration (FDA)
