PROVIDENCE – The General Assembly approved legislation from Sen. Pamela J. Lauria, D-Barrington, and Rep. Teresa A. Tanzi, D-South Kingstown, to require healthcare providers and facilities to notify patients if they use artificial intelligence tools to document visits and to review this documentation for accuracy after the visit.
Maintaining accurate documentation, which is one of the most important and time-consuming parts of a medical visit for a provider, “ensures continuity of care, accurate billing and provides safeguards against legal action,” said Lauria, who also works as a primary care nurse practitioner.
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“In recent years, AI has become an incredibly valuable tool to help write these notes. The notes are more comprehensive, accurate coding is easier, and the time needed to complete notes is drastically reduced,” she said. “At the same time, patients are very clear that they want as much transparency as possible.”
The legislation was supported by the Senior Agenda Coalition of Rhode Island and the American Civil Liberties Union of Rhode Island Inc.
Tanzi said AI scribes and similar tools “have the potential to decrease the documentation burden for medical providers and improve the quality of visits for patients.”
“But as with any rapidly expanding new technology, particularly in a sensitive field like healthcare,” she said, “it is important to protect patients and transparently disclose when AI scribes are being used.”
Christopher Allen is a PBN staff writer. You may contact him at Allen@PBN.com.
