Montana economic committee weighs AI licensing for medical care

HELENA, Mont. — Montana lawmakers spent part of a committee hearing on Tuesday focused on how artificial intelligence could fit into medical care and how the state might regulate it.

The Montana Economic Affairs Interim Committee heard a proposal that would create a licensing system for AI used in medical care.

Adam Meier, director of health policy at the Cicero Institute, gave the presentation. He described AI in health care as something that would keep expanding and noted that some tasks might not require a doctor in every case.

“There are use cases...today where we could be moving to fully autonomous, diagnostic retinopathy scanners, where they're able to scan your eyes and tell you...whether or not you might be going blind," Meier said. "I could see a world or scenario where you're able to stick one next to the blood pressure cuff at the pharmacy, right where you can go and look in the goggles, and it gives you a scan and then it has a way to bill and act like a provider.”

Sarah Swanson, commissioner of the Montana Department of Labor and Industry, claimed that the state’s legal structure would need changes before that kind of system could move ahead. She said the current licensing setup was not built to handle this type of technology.

“AI is not just lazy Google. It can do really cool, big things. But from a regulatory perspective, the current Department of Labor licensing setup isn't set up to regulate this well," Swanson said. "So we're going to need to really work closely together to make sure that this sandbox functions and that we've got all the safety provisions, and that the right voices are at the table.”

Those involved in Tuesday's hearing agreed that patient data protection had to come first in any AI rollout, and that more work needed to be done as the discussion moved forward.