Leadership Message: The evolving AI health care environment

Dear Colleagues,

Artificial intelligence is rapidly reshaping health care with immense potential to provide better care for all. At UC Davis Health, we are proud to be a national leader in the adoption of AI technologies. While Health IT innovation has long been shaped by clinical practice and public policy, AI represents a significant shift in both scale and complexity.

Across the country, health care organizations are navigating a quickly evolving AI policy environment. Federal agencies are establishing baseline expectations around transparency, safety, and interoperability, while states are advancing their own AI legislation that often goes further in addressing privacy, equity, and consumer protection.

In 2025, the California State Legislature proposed over 60 new bills concerning artificial intelligence, with 21 signed into law. For health systems, this dual regulatory framework introduces both opportunity and challenge: innovation must advance in parallel with compliance across multiple, sometimes competing, policy requirements.

Within this landscape, UC Davis Health remains committed to adopting machine-learning and generative AI tools that meaningfully enhance clinician workflows.

Our focus is on technologies that support clinical decision-making, reduce documentation burden, improve presentation of key patient information, streamline prior-authorization processes, and help manage growing volumes of patient-initiated messages. When implemented responsibly, these tools have real potential to return time to patient-facing care and reduce administrative friction across our system.

Equally important is our commitment to safe, ethical, and equitable use of AI. Patient protections particularly related to sensitive areas, such as abortion-related care and immigration status, remain top of mind. UC Davis Health will continue to advocate at both the state and federal levels for policies that safeguard our patients, support our workforce, and allow responsible innovation to flourish.

As this policy landscape continues to evolve, our guiding principle remains clear: technology should serve clinicians and patients first, and policy should enable trust, safety, and equity.

Yours in health,

Melissa Jost, MS, PMP
Director, Clinical Informatics
Director, Clinician Health & Wellbeing
Interim Director, UCDMG Physician Contracting & Affiliations