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. 2022 May 20;5(1):63.
doi: 10.1038/s41746-022-00609-6.

Paying for artificial intelligence in medicine

Ravi B Parikh  1   2 , Lorens A Helmchen  3   4
Affiliations

Paying for artificial intelligence in medicine

Ravi B Parikh et al. NPJ Digit Med. .

Abstract

Over the past 7 years, regulatory agencies have approved hundreds of artificial intelligence (AI) devices for clinical use. In late 2020, payers began reimbursing clinicians and health systems for each use of select image-based AI devices. The experience with traditional medical devices has shown that per-use reimbursement may result in the overuse use of AI. We review current models of paying for AI in medicine and describe five alternative and complementary reimbursement approaches, including incentivizing outcomes instead of volume, utilizing advance market commitments and time-limited reimbursements for new AI applications, and rewarding interoperability and bias mitigation. As AI rapidly integrates into routine healthcare, careful design of payment for AI is essential for improving patient outcomes while maximizing cost-effectiveness and equity.

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Conflict of interest statement

Dr. Parikh reports receiving grants from the National Institutes of Health, Prostate Cancer Foundation, National Palliative Care Research Center, NCCN Foundation, Conquer Cancer Foundation, Humana, and Veterans Health Administration; personal fees and equity from GNS Healthcare, Inc. and Onc.AI; personal fees from Cancer Study Group, Thyme Care, Humana, and Nanology; honorarium from Flatiron, Inc. and Medscape; board membership (unpaid) at the Coalition to Transform Advanced Care; and serving on a leadership consortium (unpaid) at the National Quality Forum, all outside the submitted work. Dr. Helmchen reports no conflicts of interest.

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