The Six AI Policy Issues From Q1 That Matter Most for Health Care

Below is a brief excerpt from , updated for Q1 2026. Click for the full report.

2026 has been busy on the AI front, with almost all states actively debating AI legislation and the federal government increasingly indicating it has a role to play.

The end of Q1 2026 saw a wave of state and federal AI policies:

• The White House released its and has attempted to thwart state activity, with varying success.
• Congress introduced a children’s online safety package including (the KIDS Act), with guardrails for AI chatbots and a for the “TRUMP AI AMERICA” seeking to codify certain components and implement others of .
• 43 states introduced over 250 bills impacting AI and health care.

In all this activity at all levels of government, we identified six key issues these policies are seeking to address:

• AI transparency between developer and deployer and/or end-user, often requiring patient consent;
• AI chatbots disclosures, mental health crisis detection and more stringent requirements for minor users;
• Allocating liability between developers and deployers (especially in health care settings);
• Payor use of AI to make medical necessity determination and downcode claims;
• AI use in clinical care settings, with particular focus on mental health practitioners; and
• AI sandboxes and regulatory relief programs.

Click for more detailed information and analysis on each of these themes.

What to Watch and Our Predictions:

In Q2 2026, we’ll monitor how the federal government defines its role in AI policy and what it allows the states to legislate. We’re particularly keen to see if Congress is able to get bipartisan support to pass an AI bill that addresses areas that have interest from both parties such as AI chatbots. We’ll also be looking at early signals from the various AI and tech-forward models launched by federal agencies (mainly CMS)—ACCESS and TEMPO, WiSER and ADVOCATE—and additional action from state sandboxes/regulatory relief programs in Utah and Texas.

We expect that states will continue to introduce legislation and advance bills through the end of their general sessions, with more states adopting laws to legislate AI chatbots and patient consent and disclosure requirements when AI is used in clinical contexts. As regulatory relief programs are getting significant attention and may draw innovation to states where they are enacted, we anticipate several states will create such programs, and we’ll be watching to see how AI developers attempt to take advantage of the regulatory relief programs. Bills setting for liability for AI developers likely face more of an uphill battle.

For our full analysis of these policies, click . For more on how you and your organization should be thinking about these issues, contact or .