From the free email newsletter Politico Pulse:
https://www.politico.com/newsletters/politico-pulse/2024/09/13/inside-hhs-ai-purchases-00178902
ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE AT HHS — HHS, one of the federal government’s top users of artificial intelligence, has spent nearly $129 million on AI and AI-related purchases in the past five years, Chelsea and POLITICO’s Mohar Chatterjee report. That’s according to a POLITICO analysis of government data, which found that the top spenders within HHS include: — The Office of the Assistant Secretary for Management and Budget at $53 million — The NIH at $26 million — The FDA at $32 million Why it matters: AI experts who spoke with POLITICO said the investments, which accelerated before President Joe Biden’s October executive order directing federal agencies to be more intentional about how they use and regulate AI, aim to sort through massive datasets and advance research at the FDA and the NIH. “This is encouraging,” said Dr. Don Rucker, who was HHS’ National Coordinator for Health IT in the Trump administration. As the health care industry works out what the proliferation of AI means for the sector, “HHS is sort of working out a version of the same question,” Rucker added. |
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Some ways HHS agencies use AI: — To date, the OASMB purchased from AI company Spectral MD more than $39 million in optical imaging devices that use machine-learning algorithms to classify burns, which can be used to handle wounds in mass-casualty events. — In 2020 and 2021, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services awarded tech consulting firm ESimplicity nearly $4 million to plan how to efficiently transition its data to cloud services that could support AI use. — Last year, the National Institutes of Health awarded a nearly $3.5 million contract to AI company BelleTorus for the experimental development of telehealth AI tools that could digitally assess a child’s throat and airways. According to a GAO report from December, HHS is one of the top federal government agencies using AI — fourth only to NASA and the Commerce and Energy departments. Just last month, HHS merged two tech offices and increased its focus on AI, posting job listings for three new roles related to creating AI policy: A chief AI officer, a chief technology officer and a chief data officer. |
