The Trump administration on Friday unveiled legislative framework for a single national policy on artificial intelligence.
The aim is to create security and safety guardrails for the use of AI while also preventing states from enacting their own laws. The legislative framework is intended to be a blueprint for Congress to guide AI regulation.
The framework builds on an executive order signed by President Donald Trump in December that aims to challenge state laws on AI. The order did not contain any healthcare-specific provisions but rather aimed to constrain states from enacting or enforcing state AI laws, many of which also apply to the healthcare industry.
The Trump administration would like to see Congress "in the coming months" turn the framework into legislation the president can sign.
State lawmakers have pushed back on efforts to curtail state AI laws. In 2025, 38 states adopted or enacted measures related to AI, according to a National Conference of State Legislatures database.
In a letter to Congress in November, 280 state lawmakers voiced their opposition to legislation that would curtail state AI laws. "As AI evolves rapidly, state and local governments may be better positioned than Congress or federal agencies to respond in real time. Freezing state action now would stifle needed innovation in policy design at a moment when it is most needed," the lawmakers wrote.
"After years without comprehensive federal action on privacy and social media harms, a broad preemption of state and local AI laws until Congress acts would set back progress and undercut existing protections," the state lawmakers wrote in the letter.
The Trump administration, however, believes a national legislative framework can succeed only if it is applied uniformly across the U.S. "A patchwork of conflicting state laws would undermine American innovation and our ability to lead in the global AI race," the Trump administration wrote in an announcement about the federal AI legislative framework.
"The Federal government is uniquely positioned to set a consistent national policy that enables us to win the AI race and deliver its benefits to the American people, while effectively addressing the policy challenges that accompany this transformative technology," the Trump administration wrote.
The six-pronged outline tackles issues such as protecting children, enabling innovation and boosting AI development, laying the groundwork to develop AI data centers, respecting intellectual property rights, preventing censorship and protecting free speech, and developing an AI-ready workforce.
The framework did not specifically address the use of medical or healthcare AI but will likely have far-reaching impacts for the healthcare industry.
Tina Joros, chair of the EHR Association's AI workgroup, speaking on behalf of the EHR Association, said the national AI policy framework released by the White House is an "important and promising step toward urgently needed regulatory clarity."
"The EHR Association has consistently supported a federal approach to AI governance to prevent the rapidly emerging patchwork of conflicting state requirements that complicate compliance, increase provider burden and impede innovation. In addition to acting on this general policy framework, we urge Congress to include healthcare-specific AI governance requirements that differentiate between low- and high-risk use cases in any federal framework that is put forward," Joros wrote.
"We will continue collaborating with federal and state leaders to ensure that healthcare AI policy protects patient safety, fosters provider and patient confidence, supports clinical workflows, and enables responsible progress," Joros wrote.