Last month, Congressman David Schweikert (R-AZ) introduced bills H.R.193 – Maintaining Innovation and Safe Technologies Act, and H.R.238 – Healthy Technology Act of 2025, which, if eventually accepted, would artificial intelligence (AI) algorithms to become your doctor and prescribe medications and pharmaceuticals instead.
H.R.193 was first introduced on January 3rd, and then referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce and to the Committee on Ways and Means to be considered. The bill would: “To direct the Secretary of Health and Human Services to issue guidance on payment under the Medicare program for certain items involving artificial intelligence.”
In a press release, Schweikart argued that integrating AI into “our health care system could produce savings from 5 percent to 10 percent of spending, which equates to around $200 billion to $360 billion annually in 2019 dollars.” In a statement he said:
“My fixation on AI integration and the utility it provides to delivering the personalized care that patients deserve continues to grow. This legislation embraces the morality that is tied to implementing innovation further in our health care system.
“Automating the organization and collection of patient information has proven to reduce physician burden, detect health irregularities quicker, and provide hundreds of million dollars in savings each year. The potential for wearable devices to save American lives and American dollars is expanding, and it’s time for coverage to reflect that.”
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Then on the 7th, the Arizona Rep. introduced H.R.238 which specifies that it would allow AI to administer prescriptions. It say: “To amend the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act to clarify that artificial intelligence and machine learning technologies can qualify as a practitioner eligible to prescribe drugs if authorized by the State involved and approved, cleared, or authorized by the Food and Drug Administration, and for other purposes.”
The amendment changes “the term ‘practitioner licensed by law to administer such drug’ includes artificial intelligence and machine learning technology that are—authorized pursuant to a statute of the State involved to prescribe the drug involved.”
The congressman has previously tried to get identical legislation passed before in 2023 and 2021, but was not accepted. But Schweikert is adamant that the U.S. needs to embrace these technologies.
In an interview with NextGov, the political outlet reported:
When it comes to the health sector, Schweikert said AI technologies can enhance everything from diagnostics to front and back office medical operations, such as automating the process of filling out a patient intake form. He added that his “holy grail” is working to ensure that, as the Food and Drug Administration approves the medical use of new technologies, “we’d be reimbursed.”
“How do I make sure we’re embracing technology and using it to bring disruptive cures to market, or other opportunities to market? And does that also now help lower drug pricing?”
Schweikert noted that the FDA in June of last year approved Apple Watch’s atrial fibrillation feature for use in clinical trials — the first such digital health tool approved for inclusion in the agency’s Medical Device Development Tools program,’ NextGov reported.
Schweikert said the next step is understanding how this type of technology fits “into everything from building medical records, tracking you, helping you manage any pharmaceuticals you use for your heart issues, even down to producing data sets for your cardiologist to remotely look at your data.
“It’s here, we now just have to build the infrastructure around it,” he said about the new medical landscape, adding that “the technology is starting to move much faster than our regulatory rules.”
Furthermore, he claimed at the time, “Technology has to be part of the way we bend the borrowing and debt curve,” Schweikert said in an interview, adding that the broader adoption of AI “can make government better, faster, cheaper” in responding to the needs of Americans.
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