Healthcare Leaders Offer a Trust Playbook for AI Care

New voluntary guidance aims to help health systems adopt AI safely while building trust among clinicians, patients, and regulators

10 Feb 2026

Artificial intelligence has quietly moved from pilot projects to everyday healthcare operations. Hospitals now rely on algorithms to manage schedules, flag risks, and ease clinician workloads. What has lagged behind is a shared understanding of how to use these tools responsibly.

That changed on September 17, 2025, when major healthcare organizations released new voluntary guidance designed to bring clarity to AI governance. The Responsible Use of AI in Healthcare, or RUAIH, offers a common framework for health systems trying to balance speed, safety, and trust.

The guidance comes from a partnership between the Joint Commission, which accredits more than 22,000 healthcare organizations nationwide, and the Coalition for Health AI. Their message is simple. AI is here to stay, and the industry needs guardrails that encourage progress rather than freeze it.

RUAIH is not a regulation. It does not tell hospitals which tools to buy or how to code them. Instead, it focuses on the practical decisions leaders face every day. How do you know an AI system works in your specific clinical setting? Who is responsible when an algorithm influences a care decision? What processes ensure tools stay accurate and fair over time?

By framing these questions, the guidance pushes health systems toward shared expectations instead of isolated experiments. The Joint Commission has said existing governance models were not built for the speed of AI adoption. Common principles, it argues, help organizations move forward with more confidence instead of hesitating out of fear.

The ripple effects may extend beyond hospitals. Technology vendors could see rising demands for transparency, monitoring, and long term support as customers align with RUAIH. Early adopters may also be better positioned as regulators and payers pay closer attention to how AI is managed in clinical environments.

The authors are clear that this is a starting point, not a finish line. Additional playbooks and a possible certification program are already in development. Together, they point to an industry trying to shape AI on its own terms, before uncertainty does it for them.