Mehmet Oz, MD, the new administrator of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, promoted the use of artificial intelligence avatars during his first all-staff meeting, WIRED reported April 9.
Sources told the publication that during the April 7 meeting, Dr. Oz discussed potentially prioritizing AI avatars over frontline healthcare workers.
He reportedly claimed that a diabetes diagnosis from a physician could cost about $100 per hour, while an appointment with an AI-powered avatar could cost as little as $2 per hour. Dr. Oz also asserted that patients have rated care provided by AI avatars as equal to or better than that of human physicians — a claim that contrasts with research indicating patients remain skeptical of medical advice delivered by artificial intelligence.
He added that technologies such as machine learning and AI can help scale “good ideas” quickly and affordably.
“Dr. Oz brings decades of experience as a physician and an innovator to CMS. We are not going to respond to deliberately misleading leaks about a nearly hour-long meeting he held with all CMS staff,” CMS spokesperson Catherine Howden told WIRED in an emailed statement.
CMS has explored the use of AI for several years, according to archived versions of an agency website dedicated to the topic. In 2022, the agency released an updated “AI Playbook.” However, its efforts have largely focused on leveraging vast datasets, rather than deploying AI for direct patient care.