House Communications & Technology Committee holds hearing on bill to establish guardrails for AI use in health care
Southeast Delegation December 16, 2025 | 2:40 PM
HARRISBURG, Dec. 16 – In the wake of last week’s Trump executive order limiting state authority over artificial intelligence, the Pennsylvania House Communications & Technology Committee, chaired by state Rep. Joe Ciresi, held a hearing emphasizing the need for state regulations despite the federal push to deregulate the emerging technology.
The committee considered legislation (H.B. 1925) that would establish guardrails for the use of AI in the health care industry. The bipartisan legislation was introduced by state Reps. Arvind Venkat, D-Allegheny, Joe Hogan, R-Bucks, Tarik Khan, D-Phila., Bridget Kosierowski, D-Lackawanna, and Greg Scott, D-Montgomery. Venkat is a medical doctor, both Khan and Kosierowski are nurses, and Scott is an EMT.
“As AI becomes an increasingly common part of our lives, it offers tremendous potential benefits, but we also need safeguards to protect the public from its misuse,” Ciresi said. “This hearing focused on striking that balance -- ensuring the technology is deployed responsibly with patient care as the priority. Putting the patient first means that important health care and insurance decisions, including prior authorization, must be driven by qualified human decision-makers who consider each patient’s individual circumstances, not just AI algorithms.”
The legislation would establish rules for health care providers, insurers, and Medical Assistance and Children’s Health Insurance Program managed care plans. It would require that the use of AI in major decisions -- clinical decision-making by health care facilities and utilization reviews, including prior authorization for insurers and MA/CHIP plans -- be disclosed, reviewed for safety and proper use, and involve qualified human oversight based on individual circumstances.
“As the only physician in the General Assembly, I have witnessed the rapid growth of AI in health care firsthand,” Venkat said. “AI will impact everyone, one way or another. I am grateful to my bipartisan colleagues for joining me in introducing this legislation and thank Chairmen Ciresi and Ortitay for holding this hearing on an issue that will affect every Pennsylvanian.”
The context of the legislation is the multiple class-action lawsuits against several major insurers alleging that health insurers are using AI algorithms to deny significant numbers of prior authorization and insurance claim requests, spending, at most, seconds considering each claim. Plaintiffs allege an error rate as high as 90% with some of these denials, while the American Medical Association has raised concerns about the unregulated use of AI by insures leading to more prior authorization denials at the cost of patient care.
Five panels of testifiers participated in the three-hour hearing, including:
- Advocates and tech industry: J.B. Branch, big tech accountability advocate, Public Citizen; and James Sullivan, past president, Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society Inc., Keystone Chapter.
- State government agencies: Michael Humphreys, commissioner, Pennsylvania Insurance Department; Ester Blair, senior deputy attorney general, Pennsylvania Office of Attorney General; Elizabeth Oquendo, senior deputy attorney general, Pennsylvania Office of Attorney General.
- Hospitals and health systems: Jess Boyle, senior director of digital transformation, Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia; Dr. David Vega, chief medical officer, WellSpan Medical Group and senior vice president, WellSpan Health; Hunter Young, head of state government relations, ATA Action.
- Health care professionals: Dr. Liz Werley, president, Pennsylvania College of Emergency Physicians; Maureen May, president, Pennsylvania Association of Staff Nurses & Allied Professionals.
- Insurers: Jonathan Greer, president and CEO, Insurance Federation of Pennsylvania; Megan Barbour, executive director of government affairs, Insurance Federation of Pennsylvania; Aaron Smith-McLallen, director of data science & health outcomes research, Independence Blue Cross.
Written testimony was submitted by the Pennsylvania Department of Health, Pennsylvania Department of Human Services, America’s Health Insurance Plans, TechNet, Hospital & Healthsystem Association of Pennsylvania, AdvaMed, and Highmark Health.
“House Bill 1925 would create necessary guidelines for the use of AI by health care providers to ensure there is transparency that keeps patients informed, and that important decisions about their health are always made by a qualified, licensed, and human medical professional -- not AI algorithms,” Ciresi said. “State legislatures have a responsibility to protect patients from the risks that come with the unregulated use of AI, making sure that this technology is responsibly implemented the right way.”
The complete hearing can be viewed here and written testimony can be accessed here.