STAT’s ‘Unraveled’ investigative series examines Trump administration officials’ promotion of AI as a fix for struggling rural health systems, including CMS head Mehmet Oz’s touting of AI-based avatars. Rural health leaders and providers interviewed are skeptical, arguing that implementation costs are prohibitive for already cash-strapped rural hospitals and that unproven savings could widen inequities between well-resourced and rural systems. Penobscot Community Health Care CEO Lori Dwyer says she does not expect AI to lower health care costs in the near term.
