Medicare may soon be able to reimburse physicians for using artificial intelligence-based medical devices, thanks to a bipartisan bill recently introduced to Congress.
The bill, called the Health Tech Investment Act, would set up a payment system for devices that use AI or machine learning, which the bill’s cosponsors say would encourage providers to use the technology in clinical settings and help improve diagnoses.
“Medicare patients deserve access to the life-changing care that artificial intelligence-enabled devices can offer,” Sen. Mike Rounds of South Dakota, one of the bill’s cosponsors, said in a statement on April 10. “There is currently no clear Medicare payment system for these devices, meaning that it can take years to be approved and paid out by Medicare accurately.”
How it’d work. If the bill is signed into law, it would create a temporary Medicare payment code for devices that use AI, machine learning, or “other similarly designed software.”
