The Standard

Dr. Daniel Vreeman Named Chief AI Officer to Drive Organization's Strategic AI Agenda

HL7 has launched an Artificial Intelligence (AI) Office to establish foundational standards for safe, trustworthy AI in healthcare and convene the global community driving this transformation.

The new office positions HL7 at the forefront of healthcare's AI revolution, creating frameworks that ensure emerging technologies are trusted, explainable, interoperable, and scalable across clinical, operational, and research settings worldwide.

"Artificial intelligence will fundamentally reshape healthcare delivery, evaluation, and payment," said Charles Jaffe, MD, PhD, CEO of HL7 International. "Our new AI Office positions HL7 as the trusted global convener for responsible, standards-driven AI innovation—ensuring these transformative technologies deliver on their promise to improve health for all."

To lead this initiative, HL7 has appointed Daniel Vreeman, DPT, as its first Chief AI Officer (CAIO). Dr. Vreeman will expand his current role as Chief Standards Development Officer to drive HL7's comprehensive AI strategy, including the HL7 AI Challenge, anti-fraud initiatives, and collaborations with regulators and industry partners globally.

How AI for Deterministic Approaches Can Fix PA Denials

A recent survey by the American Medical Association (AMA) revealed a growing concern among physicians: over 60% believe that unregulated AI tools are systematically denying necessary patient care. “Emerging evidence shows that insurers use automated decision-making systems to create systematic batch denials with little or no human review, placing barriers between patients and necessary medical care,” said AMA President Bruce A. Scott, MD, reacting to the survey results.

This alarming trend exacerbates the already burdensome prior authorization (PA) process in the US, delaying essential treatments and placing undue strain on providers, payers and patients alike.

At Smile Digital Health, we believe that AI should support—not override—good medical judgment. That’s why we developed KALM Services (Knowledge Authoring Lifecycle Management), with AI capabilities designed to exponentially accelerate the creation of deterministic computable policies for prior authorization workflows and other use cases like clinical reasoning and quality measure evaluations.

 HL7’s 3^rd annual conference on genomics, February 20-21 in Washington, DC, combines professionals from multiple areas – technologists, academic research and commercial vendors, while mixing in policy and government, all from a global perspective. This year’s theme is Global Clinical Genomics, Artificial Intelligence and Innovation.