Maryland recently passed a law to control how insurers use AI in healthcare decisions. The goal sounds good: stop unfair care denials and keep doctors involved. But the real problem might be deeper. Healthcare AI doesn’t just sit quietly in the background. It’s everywhere—helping doctors write notes
Artificial intelligence is growing fast, with new models getting twice as good every four months. This speed means scientists can discover drug targets in days instead of months, thanks to programs that predict how proteins fold. A recent example is a team from a major tech company whose software ea
Every day, millions of people across China step up as unpaid family caregivers. They look after elderly parents, sick relatives or children with special needs without asking for much in return. The long hours and emotional toll can leave deep marks on their mental health. What if the key to spotting
For decades, drug testing followed the same slow rhythm. Researchers ran trials in stages, then paused for months to analyze data before asking regulators for the next step. Patients waited years for treatments while paperwork piled up. Now, a new FDA approach cuts out the waiting by letting regulat
A study released in 2026 put five popular chatbots under the microscope, checking how they answered everyday health questions. Nearly half the replies contained some kind of flaw—either missing key details or steering users toward unverified treatments. About one in every three responses had minor g
The trend of asking smart‑phone assistants about medical symptoms has grown fast. In one Texas town a 42‑year‑old woman prefers to type her worries into an app instead of calling a doctor. She says she tells the program what’s happening, then follows its suggestions. Researchers note that younger
When Nasha Fitter’s three-year-old daughter got a rare genetic diagnosis in 2017, the internet wasn’t much help. Search results were useless, doctors didn’t know what was coming next, and Facebook groups became the closest thing to a lifeline—even if the advice there wasn’t always reliable. Fitter
Allina Health, a big medical group based in Minneapolis, has been negotiating with its doctors’ union for more than two years. The union represents over 600 medical staff, including physicians, nurse practitioners and physician assistants. In early April, the parties announced a tentative first cont
Doctors often struggle to agree on back problems because scans can look different from person to person. A narrowing in the lower spine called lumbar spinal stenosis is one tough case. Traditional MRI scans help, but experts don’t always see the same things when they look. Now, researchers are testi
Verily, a startup that builds AI tools for health care, just raised $300 million in new funding. The money came from a mix of investors, with Series X Capital leading the round and Google’s parent company Alphabet stepping back from its majority stake. Alphabet will stay involved, but as a min
