Health
Mayo Clinic sees AI as ‘transformative force’ in health care, appoints Dr. Bhavik Patel as chief AI officer
As artificial intelligence gains an ever-widening role in the medical field, the Mayo Clinic has recently appointed a new executive to lead the health system’s efforts in that area.
Radiologist Bhavik Patel, M.D., has been named chief artificial intelligence officer (CAIO) for Mayo Clinic Arizona. Before joining the clinic in 2021, Patel practiced at Duke University Medical Center and Stanford University Medical Center.
Dr. Richard Gray, CEO of Mayo Clinic Arizona, announced the hire on LinkedIn, noting the organization has only “begun to scratch the surface of AI’s potential in medicine.”
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In his new role, Patel will lead Mayo Clinic’s Advanced AI and Innovation Hub.
He’ll focus on expanding AI-based solutions throughout the organization, according to a press release.
Radiologist Bhavik Patel, M.D. (pictured here) has been named chief AI officer at Mayo Clinic Arizona. (Dr. Bhavik Patel/Mayo Clinic; iStock)
A growing number of health care organizations are hiring individuals in high-level AI roles, said Dr. Harvey Castro, a Dallas, Texas-based emergency medicine physician and AI expert — but it could be a challenge to fill them.
“We will likely see a huge increase in these roles, but may not have enough AI doctors to fill this space,” Castro told Fox News Digital.
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Approximately 5,000 U.S. doctors have AI and data science knowledge after undergoing formal training in these fields, he estimated.
Why is the chief AI officer role important?
In an interview with Fox News Digital, Patel described AI as a “transformative force that has the potential to revolutionize health care delivery, research and operations.”
Before joining Mayo Clinic in 2021, Patel (pictured) practiced at Duke University Medical Center and Stanford University Medical Center. (Dr. Bhavik Patel/Mayo Clinic)
Given AI’s sweeping impact and fast growth, Mayo Clinic’s new CAIO said there is a need for a dedicated leadership position to ensure “clear direction and alignment with broader organizational goals.”
The chief AI officer is also responsible for balancing the technology’s risks and benefits, Patel noted.
“The chief AI officer is not just a technocrat, but a visionary leader.”
“While AI brings forth myriad benefits, it also carries inherent risks,” he said. “A CAIO provides the necessary oversight to ensure that the implementation of AI is ethical, responsible and in line with regulatory guidelines.”
A chief AI officer also “bridges the knowledge gap,” he said, helping teams understand and harness the technology’s power.
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The role is also important in terms of maximizing the use of resources, fostering collaboration across departments and keeping up with future health tech trends, Patel added.
“Their expertise is critical in ensuring that the organization remains on the cutting edge of technological advancements while safeguarding patient welfare,” he said.
“In essence, the chief AI officer is not just a technocrat, but a visionary leader, ensuring that the organization navigates the AI-driven paradigm shift in health care with agility, responsibility and a patient-centric approach.”
Approximately 5,000 U.S. doctors have AI and data science knowledge, one expert estimated. (iStock)
Castro agreed that the importance of this role is evident as AI becomes a pivotal part of health care.
“A chief AI officer can oversee the use and development of AI technologies, ensuring that they are leveraged effectively for patient care, data management and other applications,” he said.
Daily functions of a chief AI officer
A chief AI officer has several core functions, according to Castro.
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Educating the health care community is one focus.
“This person should ensure that staff and stakeholders are informed about AI technologies and their applications,” he said.
Developing and implementing the algorithms used in the AI solutions is also a key part of the job, said Castro.
A growing number of health care organizations are hiring individuals in high-level AI roles, said Dr. Harvey Castro, a Dallas, Texas-based emergency medicine physician and AI expert (pictured). (Dr. Harvey Castro)
The CAIO must understand and analyze data derived from AI to inform decision-making and strategy.
“This role also entails managing the use of AI across the organization, ensuring that it aligns with regulatory standards and organizational goals,” Castro said.
Strategy development is also inherent to the chief AI officer’s job.
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“This involves formulating strategies for the implementation and utilization of AI in various health care aspects, such as patient care, data analysis and operational efficiency,” said Castro.
In Patel’s case, he said the heart of his new role is to “ensure that our AI direction seamlessly integrates with and reinforces our organizational values.”
Some key uses of AI in health are improving diagnostic accuracy, optimizing treatment paths and enhancing the patient experience. (iStock)
Some of Patel’s day-to-day functions include:
- Overseeing the identification, vetting and integration of AI solutions for various clinical and administrative functions
- Using AI to improve diagnostic accuracy, optimize treatment paths and enhance the patient experience
- Engaging with stakeholders to gather insights, feedback and expertise
- Ensuring that all AI algorithms are transparent, free from biases, and designed in the best interests of patients and their communities
- Facilitating training sessions, workshops and awareness campaigns to ensure that everyone is up-to-date and empowered to harness AI’s potential
“In essence, my role as chief AI officer is both strategic and operational,” Patel (pictured here) told Fox News Digital. (Dr. Bhavik Patel/Mayo Clinic)
“In essence, my role as chief AI officer is both strategic and operational,” Patel told Fox News Digital.
“It’s about setting a vision rooted in our values while ensuring the tactical execution of AI projects that drive value to our patients.”
One of the tech team’s biggest recent contributions is an AI model that proactively assesses a person’s risk of a heart attack, Patel noted.
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“This model uses data from chest CT exams — often conducted for unrelated health issues, such as COVID or lung nodules — and identifies future heart disease risk, which unfortunately even expert physicians can’t discern from the scan,” he said.
“The model helps cardiologists prevent potential heart attacks rather than treating them reactively.”
Patel said he views AI as a “powerful instrument” that helps magnify physicians’ capabilities, not replace them. (iStock)
Mayo Clinic has also developed AI models that predict the prognosis of patients with diseases such as colon cancer, detect risks of future cancers using existing medical records, and predict 30-day hospital readmission or hospital-acquired infections, Patel said.
“AI can pinpoint details that make a significant difference in diagnosis and treatment.”
“Our focus is not only to develop these AI models, but to ensure that the benefits of these models reach patients swiftly,” he added.
Key benefits of AI in health care
Patel said he views AI as a “powerful instrument” that helps magnify physicians’ capabilities rather than replacing them.
“One of AI’s primary strengths is its ability to recognize patterns that might escape the human eye,” he said.
“Whether it’s intricate anomalies in medical imaging or subtle patterns in patient histories, AI can pinpoint details that make a significant difference in diagnosis and treatment.”
Mayo Clinic Hospital in Phoenix, Arizona, is pictured here on May 25, 2023. Mayo Clinic is a nonprofit American academic medical center. (iStock)
The technology also helps providers by sifting through and analyzing vast volumes of information, far more than what would be humanly possible, Patel said.
It also automates mundane and routine tasks, allowing health care professionals to redirect their focus to the patient, he noted.
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Early risk detection is another key benefit.
“AI tools can predict potential health risks by analyzing a combination of genetic, behavioral and environmental factors, facilitating early interventions and potentially saving lives,” Patel said.
As well, AI can help enable the delivery of personalized medicine and proactive preventative care, he noted.
AI technology can help providers by sifting through and analyzing vast volumes of information. (iStock)
“By analyzing individual genetic makeup combined with lifestyle and environmental factors, treatments can be tailored to the unique needs of each patient,” Patel said.
“And by predicting potential health issues before they manifest, we can guide patients on preventive measures, fundamentally changing our approach from cure to prevention.”
Potential risks and limitations
AI in health care also presents challenges and limitations, Patel acknowledged.
Because AI is a branch of science, it requires rigorous evaluation before it can be applied by doctors, he said.
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“This ensures that we’re not just implementing technology for the sake of innovation, but are truly enhancing patient care in a tangible, evidence-based manner.”
AI models also run the risk of bias, he warned.
“By recognizing AI’s limitations and actively working to address them, we can harness AI’s potential while safeguarding the core values of our health care system.”
“AI models are, by nature, a reflection of the data they’re trained on,” he said. “If this data contains biases — whether racial, gender-based or from other sources — the models may perpetuate these biases.”
There is the additional risk that humans will become overly reliant on AI, leading to a phenomenon called “automation bias.”
It’s important to protect data privacy and security, Patel noted, due to the large amounts of information that must be fed to AI models. He calls for a balance of “enthusiasm and caution.” (iStock)
“Essentially, this means giving undue weight to AI-generated results without adequate human scrutiny,” Patel said.
“In health care, understanding the ‘why’ behind a diagnosis or recommendation is as crucial as the result,” he said. “As providers, we must always contextualize AI outputs within the broader patient picture, leveraging our clinical judgment and experience.”
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It’s important to protect data privacy and security as well, Patel noted, due to the large amounts of information that must be fed to AI models.
While AI’s capabilities are “immense and ever-growing,” Patel emphasized that AI’s role is to be an ally.
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“Humans caring for humans is the bedrock of health care — AI strengthens that foundation, but doesn’t replace it,” he said.
“AI can offer insights and assist in decision-making, but human touch, intuition and empathy cannot be replicated by algorithms.”
While AI promises a “new frontier” in health care — Patel calls for a balance of “enthusiasm and caution.”
“By recognizing AI’s limitations and actively working to address them, we can harness AI’s potential while safeguarding the core values of our health care system.”
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As cases of H5N1, also known as avian flu or bird flu, continue to surface across the U.S., safety precautions are ramping up.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) announced on Thursday its recommendation to test hospitalized influenza A patients more quickly and thoroughly to distinguish between seasonal flu and bird flu.
The accelerated “subtyping” of flu A in hospitalized patients is in response to “sporadic human infections” of avian flu, the CDC wrote in a press release.
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“CDC is recommending a shortened timeline for subtyping all influenza A specimens among hospitalized patients and increasing efforts at clinical laboratories to identify non-seasonal influenza,” the agency wrote.
The CDC now recommends accelerated subtyping of influenza A in response to “sporadic human infections” in the U.S. (iStock)
“Clinicians and laboratorians are reminded to test for influenza in patients with suspected influenza and, going forward, to now expedite the subtyping of influenza A-positive specimens from hospitalized patients, particularly those in an intensive care unit (ICU).”
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The goal is to prevent delays in identifying bird flu infections and promote better patient care, “timely infection control” and case investigation, the agency stated.
These delays are more likely to occur during the flu season due to high patient volumes, according to the CDC.
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Health care systems are expected to use tests that identify seasonal influenza A as a subtype – so if a test comes back positive for influenza A but negative for seasonal influenza, that is an indicator that the detected virus might be novel.
Identifying bird flu infections will support better patient care and infection control, the CDC says. (iStock)
“Subtyping is especially important in people who have a history of relevant exposure to wild or domestic animals [that are] infected or possibly infected with avian influenza A (H5N1) viruses,” the CDC wrote.
In an HHS media briefing on Thursday, the CDC confirmed that the public risk for avian flu is still low, but is being closely monitored.
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The agency spokesperson clarified that this accelerated testing is not due to bird flu cases being missed, as the CDC noted in its press release that those hospitalized with influenza A “probably have seasonal influenza.”
Niels Riedemann, MD, PhD, CEO and founder of InflaRx, a German biotechnology company, said that understanding these subtypes is an “important step” in better preparing for “any potential outbreak of concerning variants.”
The CDC recommends avoiding direct contact with wild birds or other animals that may be infected. (iStock)
“It will also be important to foster research and development of therapeutics, including those addressing the patient’s inflammatory immune response to these types of viruses – as this has been shown to cause organ injury and death during the COVID pandemic,” he told Fox News Digital.
Since 2022, there have been 67 total human cases of bird flu, according to the CDC, with 66 of those occurring in 2024.
The CDC recommends that people avoid direct contact with wild birds or other animals that are suspected to be infected. Those who work closely with animals should also wear the proper personal protective equipment (PPE).
When the letter arrived at Westil Gonzalez’s prison cell saying that he had been granted parole, he couldn’t read it. Over the 33 years he had been locked up for murder, multiple sclerosis had taken much of his vision and left him reliant on a wheelchair.
He had a clear sense of what he would do once freed. “I want to give my testimony to a couple of young people who are out there, picking up guns,” Mr. Gonzalez, 57, said in a recent interview. “I want to save one person from what I’ve been through.”
But six months have passed, and Mr. Gonzalez is still incarcerated outside Buffalo, because the Department of Corrections has not found a nursing home that will accept him. Another New York inmate has been in the same limbo for 20 months. Others were released only after suing the state.
America’s elderly prison population is rising, partly because of more people serving long sentences for violent crimes. Nearly 16 percent of prisoners were over 55 in 2022, up from 5 percent in 2007. The share of prisoners over 65 quadrupled over the same time period, to about 4 percent.
Complex and costly medical conditions require more nursing care, both in prison and after an inmate’s release. Across the country, prison systems attempting to discharge inmates convicted of serious crimes often find themselves with few options. Nursing home beds can be hard to find even for those without criminal records.
Spending on inmates’ medical care is increasing — in New York, it has grown to just over $7,500 in 2021 from about $6,000 per person in 2012. Even so, those who work with the incarcerated say the money is often not enough to keep up with the growing share of older inmates who have chronic health problems.
“We see a lot of unfortunate gaps in care,” said Dr. William Weber, an emergency physician in Chicago and medical director of the Medical Justice Alliance, a nonprofit that trains doctors to work as expert witnesses in cases involving prison inmates. With inmates often struggling to get specialty care or even copies of their own medical records, “things fall through the cracks,” he said.
Dr. Weber said he was recently involved in two cases of seriously ill prisoners, one in Pennsylvania and the other in Illinois, who could not be released without a nursing home placement. The Pennsylvania inmate died in prison and the Illinois man remains incarcerated, he said.
Almost all states have programs that allow early release for inmates with serious or life-threatening medical conditions. New York’s program is one of the more expansive: While other states often limit the policy to those with less than six months to live, New York’s is open to anyone with a terminal or debilitating illness. Nearly 90 people were granted medical parole in New York between 2020 and 2023.
But the state’s nursing home occupancy rate hovers around 90 percent, one of the highest in the nation, making it especially hard to find spots for prisoners.
The prison system is “competing with hospital patients, rehabilitation patients and the general public that require skilled nursing for the limited number of beds available,” said Thomas Mailey, a spokesman for the New York Department of Corrections and Community Supervision. He declined to comment on Mr. Gonzalez’s case or on any other inmate’s medical conditions.
Parolees remain in the state’s custody until their original imprisonment term has expired. Courts have previously upheld the state’s right to place conditions on prisoner releases to safeguard the public, such as barring paroled sex offenders from living near schools.
But lawyers and medical ethicists contend that paroled patients should be allowed to choose how to get their care. And some noted that these prisoners’ medical needs are not necessarily met in prison. Mr. Gonzalez, for example, said he had not received glasses, despite repeated requests. His disease has made one of his hands curl inward, leaving his unclipped nails to dig into his palm.
“Although I’m sympathetic to the difficulty of finding placements, the default solution cannot be continued incarceration,” said Steven Zeidman, director of the criminal defense clinic at CUNY School of Law. In 2019, one of his clients died in prison weeks after being granted medical parole.
New York does not publish data on how many inmates are waiting for nursing home placements. One 2018 study found that, between 2013 and 2015, six of the 36 inmates granted medical parole died before a placement could be found. The medical parole process moves slowly, the study showed, sometimes taking years for a prisoner to even get an interview about their possible release.
Finding a nursing home can prove difficult even for a patient with no criminal record. Facilities have struggled to recruit staff, especially since the coronavirus pandemic. Nursing homes may also worry about the safety risk of someone with a prior conviction, or about the financial risk of losing residents who do not want to live in a facility that accepts former inmates.
“Nursing homes have concerns and, whether they are rational or not, it’s pretty easy not to pick up or return that phone call,” said Ruth Finkelstein, a professor at Hunter College who specializes in policies for older adults and reviewed legal filings at The Times’s request.
Some people involved in such cases said that New York prisons often perform little more than a cursory search for nursing care.
Jose Saldana, the director of a nonprofit called the Release Aging People in Prison Campaign, said that when he was incarcerated at Sullivan Correctional Facility from 2010 through 2016, he worked in a department that helped coordinate parolees’ releases. He said he often reminded his supervisor to call nursing homes that hadn’t picked up the first time.
“They would say they had too many other responsibilities to stay on the phone calling,” Mr. Saldana said.
Mr. Mailey, the spokesman for the New York corrections department, said that the agency had multiple discharge teams seeking placement options.
In 2023, Arthur Green, a 73-year-old patient on kidney dialysis, sued the state for release four months after being granted medical parole. In his lawsuit, Mr. Green’s attorneys said that they had secured a nursing home placement for him, but that it lapsed because the Department of Corrections submitted an incomplete application to a nearby dialysis center.
The state found a placement for Mr. Green a year after his parole date, according to Martha Rayner, an attorney who specializes in prisoner release cases.
John Teixeira was granted medical parole in 2020, at age 56, but remained incarcerated for two and a half years, as the state searched for a nursing home. He had a history of heart attacks and took daily medications, including one delivered through an intravenous port. But an assessment from an independent cardiologist concluded that Mr. Teixeira did not need nursing care.
Lawyers with the Legal Aid Society in New York sued the state for his release, noting that during his wait, his port repeatedly became infected and his diagnosis progressed from “advanced” to “end-stage” heart failure.
The Department of Corrections responded that 16 nursing homes had declined to accept Mr. Teixeira because they could not manage his medical needs. The case resolved three months after the suit was filed, when “the judge put significant pressure” on the state to find an appropriate placement, according to Stefen Short, one of Mr. Teixeira’s lawyers.
Some sick prisoners awaiting release have found it difficult to get medical care on the inside.
Steve Coleman, 67, has trouble walking and spends most of the day sitting down. After 43 years locked up for murder, he was granted parole in April 2023 and has remained incarcerated, as the state looks for a nursing home that could coordinate with a kidney dialysis center three times each week.
But Mr. Coleman has not had dialysis treatment since March, when the state ended a contract with its provider. The prison has offered to take Mr. Coleman to a nearby clinic for treatment, but he has declined because he finds the transportation protocol — which involves a strip search and shackles — painful and invasive.
“They say you’ve got to go through a strip search,” he said in a recent interview. “If I’m being paroled, I can’t walk and I’m going to a hospital, who could I be hurting?”
Volunteers at the nonprofit Parole Prep Project, which assisted Mr. Coleman with his parole application, obtained a letter from Mount Sinai Hospital in New York City in June offering to give him medical care and help him transition back into the community.
Still incarcerated two months later, Mr. Coleman sued for his release.
In court filings, the state argued that it would be “unsafe and irresponsible” to release Mr. Coleman without plans to meet his medical needs. The state also said that it had contacted Mount Sinai, as well as hundreds of nursing homes, about Mr. Coleman’s placement and had never heard back.
In October, a court ruled in the prison system’s favor. Describing Mr. Coleman’s situation as “very sad and frustrating,” Justice Debra Givens of New York State Supreme Court concluded that the state had a rational reason to hold Mr. Coleman past his parole date. Ms. Rayner, Mr. Coleman’s lawyer, and the New York Civil Liberties Union appealed the ruling on Wednesday.
Fourteen medical ethicists have sent a letter to the prison supporting Mr. Coleman’s release. “Forcing continued incarceration under the guise of ‘best interests,’ even if doing so is well-intentioned, disregards his autonomy,” they wrote.
Several other states have come up with a different solution for people on medical parole: soliciting the business of nursing homes that specialize in housing patients rejected elsewhere.
A private company called iCare in 2013 opened the first such facility in Connecticut, which now houses 95 residents. The company runs similar nursing homes in Vermont and Massachusetts.
David Skoczulek, iCare’s vice president of business development, said that these facilities tend to save states money because the federal government covers some of the costs through Medicaid.
“It’s more humane, less restrictive and cost-effective,” he said. “There is no reason for these people to remain in a corrections environment.”
A surgeon in Austin, Texas, was in the middle of surgery when she was notified of a phone call from the patient’s insurance provider.
Dr. Elisabeth Potter is a board-certified plastic surgeon who specializes in reconstruction for women who have had breast cancer. Last year alone, she did about 520 surgeries for cancer patients.
She recently shared a video of herself talking about the experience.
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“I just performed two bilateral DIEP flap surgeries and two bilateral tissue expander surgeries,” she said in the now-viral video.
(In DIEP flap surgery reconstruction, skin, fat and blood vessels from the patient’s abdominal area are used to rebuild breasts.)
Dr. Elisabeth Potter, a Texas surgeon, recently shared a video of herself talking about a phone call that came in from an insurance company during a patient’s surgery. (Dr. Elisabeth Potter; @drelisabethpotter)
During one of the DIEP cases, while the patient was asleep on the operating table, the doctor was interrupted by a nurse supervisor informing her that a call had come in from UnitedHealthcare, the patient’s insurance company, Potter said.
The nurse who took the call said that Potter was in surgery and not available.
“And they said, I need to get her a message because we need to talk to her about this patient,” Potter told Fox News Digital. “So they wrote a note and brought it into the operating room and I took a picture of it, because I’m like, I can’t believe this is happening.”
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The note indicated the name and number of the person to call at UnitedHealthcare, along with the patient’s name and Dr. Potter’s name. (The note did not state that the caller had requested an immediate response.)
“The nurse at the front desk of the OR who took the call and wrote this note said that the person on the phone first asked for the patient and then for me,” Potter told Fox News Digital.
“I made that judgment call and I stand by that — I think it was the right thing to do for the patient.”
“He was told I was scrubbed in[to the] OR and he asked the nurse that I be contacted in OR and given the message.”
Added Potter, “The nurse manager said she had never in her career received a call like that before. She thought it must be important and brought the message to the OR.”
Dr. Elisabeth Potter, a surgeon in Austin, Texas, was in the middle of surgery when she was notified of a phone call from the patient’s insurance provider. (Dr. Elisabeth Potter; @drelisabethpotter)
It was odd, Potter said, that the insurance company had called the front desk of the hospital, where she is not an employee.
“They didn’t call my office. They didn’t call my cell phone. They didn’t send me an email. This wasn’t the billing department of the hospital.”
Afraid that the insurance company might deny the patient’s service, Potter made the decision to scrub out mid-surgery to return the call to United.
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The surgeon stated to Fox News Digital that UnitedHealthcare did not require her to leave the operating room or threaten to deny coverage.
The patient was safe with another surgeon and the anesthesia team, who were finishing up the procedure.
Dr. Elisabeth Potter is a board-certified plastic surgeon in Texas who specializes in breast reconstruction for women who have had breast cancer. (Dr. Elisabeth Potter)
Potter was “scared” that the patient would wake up and find out that the insurance company said they didn’t have the information they needed and would deny the claim, she said.
“I’ve seen it before, when people get stuck with bills that are $80,000 or $100,000,” she said to Fox News Digital. “And so I said to my partners, ‘I’m going to make this call real quick.’” (See her video here.)
“Dealing with insurance is a really important part of taking care of patients affected by breast cancer, because the diagnosis is financially devastating.”
“If it had been at a critical moment during the surgery, I wouldn’t have,” Potter clarified. “But I made that judgment call and I stand by that — I think it was the right thing to do for the patient.”
On the phone, the insurance company stated that they needed to know the patient’s diagnosis and the justification for the inpatient stay, something Potter had already communicated, she said.
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“And I was like, wait a minute, we got authorization for the surgery. We submitted all of our clinical documentation. We’ve done all the paperwork, the phone calls, all the stuff. You have her diagnosis codes, you have all of it,” she went on.
“And they said, ‘Actually, I don’t, another department has that, but I need this right now,’” Potter said. “There was a sense of entitlement to my time and to the information in that moment,” the surgeon added.
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Potter also noted that the person on the line didn’t have access to the patient’s full medical information, despite the procedure already being pre-approved.
“I’m not sure that person even understood that they had an impact on those patients I was operating on,” Potter told Fox News Digital. “They were just thinking about money and numbers and were not understanding at all.”
Potter was “scared” that the patient would wake up and find out that the insurance company said they didn’t have the information they needed and would deny the claim, the surgeon told Fox News Digital. (iStock)
“It’s beyond frustrating and, frankly, unacceptable,” she told Fox News Digital. “Patients and providers deserve better than this. We should be focused on care, not bureaucracy.”
Potter noted that she has always been “devoted” to providing care in-network through insurance.
“Dealing with insurance is a really important part of taking care of patients affected by breast cancer, because the diagnosis is financially devastating,” she told Fox News Digital.
“I’ve found that I really have to engage directly and think about insurance and whether they’re covering treatments and what my patients are experiencing.”
Potter emphasized that she doesn’t think insurance is “evil,” noting that there are some “really good things” about businesses that take care of people.
It was odd, the surgeon felt, that the insurance company called the front desk of the hospital, where she was not an employee. (iStock)
“But this has developed into something that no longer is devoted to patient care. This is just a machine that’s running and making money, and they don’t care about me as a provider,” she said.
Many physicians have given up and refuse to deal with insurance companies, opting to stay out of network and let the patient pay upfront and deal with getting reimbursed, Potter noted.
“Patients and providers deserve better than this.”
“I’ve gone to Washington, D.C., I have fought to protect access to [breast] reconstruction,” she said. “I have testified in the state legislature about these issues.”
She added, “It’s just getting undoable. And this moment, this week, was like, we’ve crossed a line — they’re actually in the operating room.”
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Fox News Digital contacted UnitedHealthcare for comment. The company sent the following statement.
“There are no insurance-related circumstances that would require a physician to step out of surgery and it would create potential safety risks if they were to do so.”
It went on, “We did not ask nor would ever expect a physician to interrupt patient care to answer a call and we will be following up with the provider and hospital to understand why these unorthodox actions were taken.”
Separately, the head of UnitedHealthcare group said on Thursday that the company remains “focused on making high-quality, affordable health care more available while making the health system easier to navigate for patients and providers.” (iStock)
Separately, the head of UnitedHealthcare group said on Thursday that the company is confident it will be able to grow its business in fiscal year 2025.
“The people of UnitedHealthcare remain focused on making high-quality, affordable health care more available to more people while making the health system easier to navigate for patients and providers, positioning us well for growth in 2025,” CEO Andrew Witty said in the company’s earnings report on Thursday.
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His optimism comes shortly after the head of its insurance unit was gunned down in New York City, inciting a heated conversation about the role of the health insurance industry in the United States.
Fox News Digital’s Daniella Genovese contributed reporting.
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/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/25822586/STK169_ZUCKERBERG_MAGA_STKS491_CVIRGINIA_A.jpg "Meta is highlighting a splintering global approach to online speech")
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