• District of Columbia: President Joe Biden on Monday signed an EO establishing the first standards for AI in healthcare and other industries. "We need to govern this technology," Biden said, adding that the order was "the most significant action, any government anywhere in the world has [ever] taken on AI safety, security and trust." Under the order, HHS has 90 days to establish an AI Task Force to develop policies and frameworks on how to responsibly use and deploy AI and AI-enabled technologies in health and human services. The goal of the task force is to create guidance on how to monitor the quality and safety of AI technology and incorporate equity when using the models. HHS, the Department of Veterans Affairs, and the Department of Defense will also develop a framework to help identify and capture clinical errors that occur with AI in healthcare settings. They will also create a central tracking repository to identify associated incidents that cause harm. Biden also invoked the Defense Production Act in the order, which will require companies developing or intending to develop dual-use foundation models to provide the federal government with data on how the models are trained and developed for cybersecurity reasons. Lastly, the order aims to increase AI research in "vital" areas, including healthcare. The Department of Commerce has been tasked with developing guidance on watermarks for AI-created content and create a pilot through the National AI Research Resource to expand grants for research on the use of AI in healthcare. (Perna/Turner, Modern Healthcare, 10/30)
• Illinois: The American Hospital Association (AHA) last week launched a new health equity program through its Institute of Diversity and Health Equity. The program, which is called the Equity Transformation Partner Program, will connect AHA members with practitioners and service providers who can help them advance their diversity, inclusion, and health equity efforts. The program will also identify an exclusive group of trusted services to help member hospitals further advance their equity journey. Some of the program's first partners include Chartis, Impact4Health, and TruLite Health. (AHA News, 10/24)
• Maryland: FDA has warned consumers to immediately stop using and no longer purchase 27 over-the-counter eye drop products because of the "potential risk of eye infections that could result in partial vision loss or blindness." In an alert released last week, the agency said investigators found "insanitary conditions in the manufacturing facility and positive bacterial test results from environmental sampling." The affected products were sold under seven brand names, including CVS Health, Target Up&Up, Rite Aid, Leader (Cardinal Health), Rugby (Cardinal Health), Velocity Pharma, and Walmart's Equate brand. FDA has recommended that the manufacturer pull all lots of these products, and several stores have already removed the products from their shelves. (Tyko, Axios, 10/30)

AI has been met with suspicion in the healthcare industry, but is this justified? We unpack the four most commonly cited risks of AI, and why some of them may be overstated.