VA rolled out new AI tools quickly, but without a system to catch mistakes, patient safety is on the line
Publish Date: 2026-02-12 13:46:00
Source Domain: federalnewsnetwork.com
Terry Gerton You’ve just published a really important notice at the VA. What prompted you in the Office of the Inspector General to take an early look at how the Veterans Health Administration is using generative AI?
Cheryl Mason Well, Terry, we’ve been looking, the OIG’s been looking at AI in the department since late 2023. And this includes AI’s chat tools for both clinical care and documentation. So this wasn’t prompted by allegations or complaints. This is just part of our normal oversight that we are charged to do under the statute. And so what we really wanted to do was make sure we understood how and in what clinical settings these two tools are being used, right? So, again, it goes to our oversight, understanding the environment the clinicians are working in and other staff and how they use these tools to support and enhance their care for veterans.
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Terry Gerton And how in this case are they using the chat AI tools to support clinical diagnosis?
Cheryl Mason So it looks like from our review is they are reviewing it, just using the chat tools in general to apply to cases. I mean, how they use it specifically is a little tricky because they all use it differently, which is part of our concern. But the big concern here is however they’re using it in whatever manner, the concern is that AI hallucinates. There’s research done on this, There’s been many, many legal cases on this. And so when you use an AI chat in clinical documentation, if the process is hallucinating, that can have an impact on patient diagnosis and management. And that’s why it’s so important to have the person involved, which according to the department, their recent press release, they are doing that.
Terry Gerton You made this announcement as a preliminary advisory. Why did you take that step instead of waiting for the whole report and assessment to come out?
Cheryl Mason So our PRAMs, our preliminary advisory memos, are really put out in a way when we have…
