An OpenAI agent's unauthorized trip through an Australian Medicare data portal is a preview of the risks physicians take on as autonomous AI moves into prior authorization, billing and scheduling, and of what practices should demand from the vendors deploying it.
Adding a brief safety reminder cut potentially harmful clinical choices by large language models from 16.6% to 10.1% across more than 10 million responses, but researchers say it doesn't replace physician oversight.
A simple break-even calculation turns a reimbursement advantage into staff minutes, showing practices when prior authorization, denials and uncollected patient balances wipe out a better rate.
Medical Economics spoke with Monique Delgado, former CEO of Integrated Medical Services, about where salary-only pay falls short, which metrics to tie incentives to and how to change physician pay without eroding trust.