Dive Brief:
- New Jersey health system Hackensack Meridian Health has become the first organization to earn the Joint Commission’s seal of approval for the responsible use of artificial intelligence in healthcare.
- The Joint Commission, an independent accreditation organization, launched the certification in June with the goal of endorsing U.S. healthcare organizations able to demonstrate they have the proper governance, resources, policies and training programs for the safe and effective use of AI.
- HMH has been refining its AI systems for years, according to Dr. Lauren Koniaris, the organization’s chief medical informatics officer. “As we expand our clinical AI initiatives, we operate under the utmost governance to ensure patient quality and safety are always the priority,” she said
Dive Insight:
HMH, one of New Jersey’s largest health systems, put its AI governance and oversight mechanisms to the test by applying for the Responsible Use of AI in Healthcare Certification.
The voluntary certification delivers on a promise the Joint Commission made in 2025, when it launched a strategic partnership with standards organization the Coalition for Health AI to convene key stakeholders and develop guidance to help health systems implement the technology safely.
More than 80% of physicians use AI professionally, according to a March survey from the American Medical Association — a rate that has more than doubled since 2023. However, just 27% of clinicians say they know how their organizations are addressing AI governance, according to a Wolters Kluwer report.
Private consortiums have been racing to establish industry standards as AI adoption ramps up and federal regulations around the technology lag.
In May, CHAI released a series of AI governance playbooks, which the Joint Commission used to develop the RUAIH certification.
The certification, which organizations pay for based on company type and size, covers five domains: governance, risk and bias reduction, effective data management, monitoring and validating safety and effectiveness, and education and training.
For HMH, the certification process took just three weeks. But the system's internal governance framework for responsible AI has been in use for four years, according to Koniaris.
The health system has embarked on several AI initiatives across its 18 hospitals and hundreds of care sites, from installing AI chatbot assistants on provider websites to piloting predictive analytics tech aimed at improving hospice transitions to adopting models that can detect heart disease. HMH plans to continue developing its technology.
“We have a dedicated team evaluating options — including screening tools from third-party vendors — with the specific goal of reducing administrative burdens so our clinicians can focus on patient care,” Koniaris said.
Above all, every potential AI tool is weighed against HMH’s seven governance pillars before it reaches a clinical setting, the chief medical informatics officer stressed.
Brian Anderson, president and CEO of CHAI, said HMH’s certification is an “exciting milestone, which marks a meaningful step toward making responsible AI governance a standard part of healthcare delivery.”
Many of CHAI’s health system members are preparing to follow suit as the certification gains momentum, Anderson added
