The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is actively seeking broad stakeholder input to propel the integration of artificial intelligence into clinical care, marking a proactive step toward transforming American healthcare. Through a newly released Request for Information (RFI) titled “Accelerating the Adoption and Use of Artificial Intelligence as Part of Clinical Care,” HHS aims to harness its regulatory authority, reimbursement policies, and research investments to enable faster, safer AI deploymentultimately improving patient and caregiver experiences, easing administrative burdens on providers, boosting care quality, and deflating healthcare costs.

The RFI, jointly issued by the HHS Office of the Deputy Secretary, the Assistant Secretary for Technology Policy (ASTP), and the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC), builds on the department’s internal HHS AI Strategy (released December 4, 2025) and broader Trump administration priorities, including executive orders promoting AI innovation and challenging restrictive state laws.

Key focus areas include evolving digital health and software regulations to better accommodate AI-based tools, ensuring a “well understood, predictable, and proportionate” framework that mitigates risks like biased data, inaccurate outputs, or model degradation while encouraging rapid innovation and protecting patient data/privacy.

HHS is particularly interested in simplifying reimbursement mechanisms to incentivize payers to support AI-driven clinical interventions, foster competition among developers, and enhance affordability/access. The RFI highlights how legacy payment systems could hinder AI’s potential and seeks ideas for modernization.

On the research front, input is requested on prioritizing R&D investments, public-private partnerships, and cooperative agreements to establish evidence based best practices shifting AI use from primarily administrative tasks (e.g., billing, documentation) to direct clinical applications like decision support and patient-facing tools.

The initiative addresses current hesitancy in the sector, where many health systems limit AI to lower risk areas due to safety concerns. HHS emphasizes balancing innovation with safeguards to build public trust.

Stakeholders including AI builders, implementers, providers, patients, and those facing adoption barriers are encouraged to submit concrete, experience based feedback. Specific questions cover biggest innovation barriers, successful/failed AI deployments, patient/caregiver priorities, and supportive private sector activities (e.g., certification).

This RFI complements recent agency specific efforts (e.g., FDA, NIH, CMS, ONC) and signals a coordinated “OneHHS” approach to external AI acceleration.