To protect the independent judgment of health care professionals acting in the scope of their practice in overriding AI/CDSS outputs, and for other purposes.
Analysis under review: This bill has generated analysis that may be too generic or incomplete. Clause-level evidence remains available below.
Summary
What This Bill Does
This bill protects health care workers from being punished or fired for using their professional judgment to override recommendations from AI clinical decision support systems. It requires health care organizations to adopt policies allowing overrides, provide training on AI systems, and establish AI oversight committees.
Who Benefits and How
Health care professionals (doctors, nurses, pharmacists, etc.) gain legal protection to override AI recommendations without fear of termination, demotion, or other retaliation. Patients benefit from ensuring human clinical judgment remains primary in their care decisions. Labor unions and professional associations gain consultation rights on AI/CDSS committees.
Who Bears the Burden and How
Health care organizations (hospitals, clinics, insurers, pharmacy benefit managers) must adopt override policies, train staff on AI systems, establish AI committees, and face civil penalties up to $153,974 for violations. They cannot use AI override rates to discipline or evaluate individual health care workers.
Key Provisions
- Prohibits adverse employment actions against health care professionals for overriding AI recommendations
- Requires policies allowing timely overrides of AI clinical decision outputs
- Mandates AI/CDSS committees with labor representation to monitor AI use
- Prohibits sharing individual override data for discipline purposes
- Enables state attorneys general and HHS/DOL to enforce with civil penalties
Evidence Chain:
This summary is generated from the full bill text using AI analysis. Expand "Detailed Analysis" below for identified beneficiaries/burden bearers.
At a Glance
What This Bill Does
Protects health care professionals from adverse employment actions for overriding AI clinical decision support system (AI/CDSS) outputs when exercising independent clinical judgment, with HHS and DOL enforcement.
Key Policy Areas
Healthcare, Labor and Employment, Artificial Intelligence, Worker Protection
Primary Purpose
Protects health care professionals from adverse employment actions for overriding AI clinical decision support system (AI/CDSS) outputs when exercising independent clinical judgment, with HHS and DOL enforcement.
Policy Domains
Title I - AI/CDSS Override Policies and HHS Enforcement
Identified Gains
Contextual inference, no direct clause citation- Health care professionals
- Patients receiving AI-assisted care
- Labor unions representing health workers
Contextual inference, no direct clause citation
Identified Costs
Contextual inference, no direct clause citation- Hospitals and health systems
- Health insurers and plans
- Pharmacy benefit managers
Contextual inference, no direct clause citation
Title II - Employment Protections and DOL Enforcement
Identified Gains
Contextual inference, no direct clause citation- Health care professionals facing discipline
- Labor unions
Contextual inference, no direct clause citation
Identified Costs
Contextual inference, no direct clause citation- Health care employers
- Department of Labor
Contextual inference, no direct clause citation
Title III - Educational Materials and State Enforcement
Identified Gains
Contextual inference, no direct clause citation- State attorneys general
- Health care professionals seeking information
Contextual inference, no direct clause citation
Identified Costs
Contextual inference, no direct clause citation- HHS Office for Civil Rights
- Covered entities facing state enforcement
Contextual inference, no direct clause citation
Sponsors
Legislative Progress
IntroducedMr. Markey (for himself and Mr. Blumenthal) introduced the following …
Stakeholder Effects
cui bono?How this legislation distributes effects. Mention counts reflect frequency, not effect magnitude.
Covered entities facing multi-state enforcement, Covered entities seeking compliance guidance, Covered entities violating AI/CDSS requirements
Positive-direction: Covered entities seeking compliance guidance, Health care professionals overriding AI recommendations, Health care professionals seeking rights information, Health care professionals subject to AI-related discipline, Health care professionals using AI/CDSS, Health care professionals with override complaints, Health care workers filing complaints
Negative-direction: Covered entities facing multi-state enforcement, Covered entities violating AI/CDSS requirements, Health care employers seeking to discipline override behavior, Health care employers violating worker protections, Hospitals and health systems using AI/CDSS, Hospitals implementing AI clinical tools
Health insurers using AI for coverage decisions, Pharmacy benefit managers using AI for prior auth
State attorneys general, State privacy regulators
Bill Structure & Actor Mappings
Who is "The Secretary" in each section?
- "the_secretary"
- → Secretary of Health and Human Services
- "covered_entity"
- → Health care organization using AI/CDSS (hospital, insurer, PBM, etc.)
- "the_secretary"
- → Secretary of Labor
- "covered_entity"
- → Health care organization using AI/CDSS
- "the_secretary"
- → Secretary of Health and Human Services
Note: 'The Secretary' refers to Secretary of HHS in Title I but Secretary of Labor in Title II
Key Definitions
Terms defined in this bill
Termination, suspension, demotion, discipline, schedule changes, denial of benefits, revocation of privileges, adverse performance reviews, or other materially adverse modifications
Technology supporting clinical decisions using algorithms or ML models that produces outputs relevant to patient treatment
Hospitals, health plans, insurers, PBMs, or other entities using AI/CDSS (excludes developers and researchers)
Licensed individuals providing health care services including physicians, nurses, pharmacists, therapists, etc.
We use a combination of our own taxonomy and classification in addition to large language models to assess meaning and potential beneficiaries. High confidence means strong textual evidence. Always verify with the original bill text.
Learn more about our methodology