The American Medical Association (AMA) has created and launched the Center for Digital Health and AI, an effort to help physicians become more involved with shaping, guiding, and implementing digital healthcare technologies.

Artificial intelligence (AI) and digital health tools are advancing rapidly, but without physician leadership and input, they risk creating unintended burdens and failing to reach their full potential. The new Center will tap the full potential of AI and digital health by embedding physicians throughout the lifecycle of technology development and deployment to ensure it fits into clinical workflow and physicians know the best way(s) to utilize it.

“Augmented Intelligence will be a defining force in the future of healthcare, but right now we are barely scratching the surface of its potential. Digital health tools are everywhere and the technology has limitless opportunity, but if you don’t understand clinical practice or clinical workflow, even the best tools will never be fully implemented,” AMA CEO/Executive Vice President John Whyte, M.D., said. “By launching this Center, the AMA is leading in this space so physicians have a say in the technology and clinical care of the future. Our goal is to harness innovation responsibly and effectively, so it improves patient care and reduces unnecessary burdens on physicians.”

The Center for Digital Health and AI will focus on:

• Policy and regulatory leadership: Working with regulators, policymakers, and technology leaders to shape benchmarks for safe and effective use of AI in medicine and digital health tools.
• Clinical Workflow Integration: Creating opportunities for doctors to shape AI and digital tools so they work within clinical workflows and enhance patient and clinician experience.
• Education and training: Equipping physicians and health systems with knowledge and tools to integrate AI efficiently and effectively into practice.
• Collaboration: Building partnerships across the tech, research, government, and health care sectors to drive innovation aligned with patient needs.

There’s clear excitement among physicians about AI’s future. Recent AMA surveys show growing enthusiasm—roughly two-thirds of physicians have incorporated AI-enabled tools in some form into practice. But concerns persist: a quarter of physicians remain more worried than excited, recognizing potential risks to data privacy as well as reliability and safety concerns.

The new Center for Digital Health and AI can potentially capitalize on the growing enthusiasm around AI, help incorporate the technology into clinical workflow, and allay concerns.

The American Medical Association is physicians’ ally in patient care. As the only medical association that convenes more than 190 state and specialty medical societies and other critical stakeholders, the AMA represents physicians with a unified voice to all key players in healthcare.  The AMA leverages its strength by removing the obstacles that interfere with patient care, leading the charge to prevent chronic disease and confront public health crises and, driving the future of medicine to tackle the biggest challenges in healthcare.