3, 2, 1: Health AI Brief
Every Friday
December 12, 2025

AI is reshaping healthcare fast. Below are 3 key AI developments, 2 studies, and 1 takeaway to help you better lead with AI. Target read time: 5 minutes.

3 Market Signals
HHS unveils "OneHHS" AI strategy

First unified AI infrastructure across CMS, FDA, CDC, and NIH. Target metrics: hospital readmissions, sepsis mortality, maternal health outcomes. Includes shared data standards and cross-agency governance.

So what?

Four agencies, one AI agenda. And ChatGPT is now available to everybody at HHS.

Read the full strategy →

FDA deploys agentic AI for drug reviews

First federal agency using autonomous AI agents. Internal tool "Elsa" now used by 70% of staff for document review and submission analysis.

So what?

If FDA trusts agentic AI, payers will likely face similar expectations.

Read the announcement →

CMS WISeR pilot launches in January—with AI prior auth

Six-state Original Medicare pilot (AZ, NJ, OH, OK, TX, WA) testing AI-powered prior auth for "waste-prone" services. Private vendors doing reviews. Runs through 2031. 2026 metrics will be public.

So what?

This becomes the benchmark every MA plan is measured against.

Read the pilot details →

2 Research Studies
JAMA Summit Report: "Medicine is flying blind on AI"

Consensus statement from 60+ leaders in medicine, law, and policy. Conclusion: AI adoption has outpaced evidence. Key recommendations: expanded FDA oversight, national data infrastructure, and outcome-based evaluation standards.

Why it matters

"Outcome-based evaluation" could become regulatory language.

Read the full report →

AMA survey: 60% of physicians say AI systematically denies care

Survey of 1,000 physicians. 93% report prior auth delays care. 29% report a serious adverse event from delays. One system reported AI denial rates 16x higher than human reviewers. Caveat: self-reported perceptions, not claims data.

Why it matters

Perception often drives policy. CA and NY already drafting transparency bills citing this.

Read the survey results →

1 Key Insight
AI is no longer a health tech category. It is health tech.

J.P. Morgan's 2025 health tech report dropped this week: 75% of all health tech funding now goes to AI-focused companies. Up from ~50% two years ago.

The shift isn't just about new AI startups. It's about every category—benefits administration, clinical trials, care delivery—being reframed as an AI problem. Angle Health raised $134M for AI-powered benefits. Artera raised $65M for "agentic care support." The language has changed.

Takeaway

Your next vendor pitch won't ask if they use AI. They all do. The question is whether their AI claims are backed by outcomes data—or just marketing.

Read the J.P. Morgan report →

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