People Mentioned
Partner, Health, Toronto
Like most sectors right now, healthcare is facing its own unique challenges when it comes to the adoption of artificial intelligence. In a Lexpert article, Aidan Macnab interviews lawyers, including Osler’s Susan Newell, a partner in the Health Industry and Cannabis group, about the technology adoption.
Newell says that clients have begun asking questions about how AI and machine learning can be implemented but also about how they can remain compliant with privacy and patient consent rules and regulations.
“Now, more than ever, privacy and technology considerations are paramount to the delivery of healthcare services,” says Newell.
She told Lexpert that although there is currently no formal regulatory guidance that those in the health care industry need to comply with, some healthcare regulatory colleges have issued guidelines regarding specific applications, such as obtaining patient consent if AI scribes are being used. As more of these resources are published, Newell expects this to create a “waterfall effect” as each jurisdiction and governing body adopts rules and best practices created by others.
There is an added complication to the regulation situation. According to Newell, “You’ve got two separate sets of rules that are being developed and evolving in parallel”: those being created by Health Canada that require AI and machine-learning software to be licensed as medical devices if they are to be used for medical purposes and those being issued by the colleges to help their members incorporate AI-based solutions into their practices.
The full article can be read on Lexpert’s website.
People Mentioned
Partner, Health, Toronto
