DiMe launches initiative to build operational AI governance tools

The Digital Medicine Society is launching Operationalizing AI Governance in Healthcare under its Connected Health Collaborative Community initiative to build operational tools health systems can use to evaluate, govern, monitor and integrate artificial intelligence.

"AI governance has become synonymous with complexity, and that's holding the field back," said Jennifer Goldsack, CEO of DiMe. "Health systems are looking for practical tools that help them evaluate AI, make confident decisions, monitor performance over time and adapt as technology evolves."

Governance is a barrier to AI adoption in healthcare because it is rarely defined in operational terms. The goal of convening industry expertise is to channel insights into a series of practical tools that will be released in succession as they are ready, DiMe said on Tuesday.

"Health systems, technology developers and other stakeholders will share real-world implementation experience, identify where current governance approaches are creating friction and co-develop practical resources that can be used across organizations," Goldsack told Healthcare IT News ahead of the announcement.

"A core strength of the initiative is that no single health system has solved AI governance, and no single technology developer can define best practice," she said.

Because some health systems are already leading on responsible AI deployments, they could "help the rest of the field learn from what they're building," according to Justin Norden, CEO of Qualified Health, which is sponsoring the DiMe initiative.

"Every health system is in the middle of a genuinely hard transformation: changing how they deliver care while the technology moves faster than the policies and operating systems meant to govern it," he said in a statement.

Thirty participating organizations will develop the open-access, fit-for-purpose suite of practical governance resources for health systems and AI developers.

"The initiative is intentionally focused and time-bound, with the first resources expected within two months and the full suite completed by the end of the year to meet the urgent needs of the field," Goldsack explained.

Additional partners include the American Psychological Association, U.S. Food and Drug Administration, Children's Nebraska, Credo AI, Consumer Technology Association, Ferrum Health, Heidi Health, Intel, Louisiana Children's Medical Center Health, Mass General Brigham, National Health Council, Onboard AI, Stanford Health, the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (UPMC) and many others.

"The partners are active contributors throughout the initiative rather than reviewers at the end," Goldsack noted.

They'll advise on "how governance works (or doesn't) in practice, the challenges of evaluating AI before deployment, monitoring performance over time and integrating governance into clinical and operational workflows," she said.

Tech developers will contribute the product development and implementation perspective, helping to ensure the resources are practical for both buyers and vendors, DiMe said.

Last year, DiMe released its playbook for implementing AI

The three-part guide was designed to help hospitals and health systems plan, source and scale health AI technologies in ways that protect resources and deliver the best possible returns on investments.

At the time, 70% of health AI pilots were failing because of people and process challenges, Goldsack said at the time: "Without implementation, we waste a generational opportunity to make the system sustainable, and we fail to deliver at scale for every person our healthcare industry exists to serve."

However, implementation complexities remain a barrier to adoption.

DiMe noted that a Healthcare Financial Management Association survey of 230 health systems in 2025 found 82% had little or no governance process in place for the AI they were already using.

Earlier this year, DiMe launched a scaling initiative for High-Impact AI Care Navigation to help ensure that AI in use is trustworthy, patient-centered and grounded in evidence.

"AI governance has become synonymous with complexity, and that's holding the field back. Health systems are looking for practical tools that help them evaluate AI, make confident decisions, monitor performance over time and adapt as technology evolves," said Goldsack in the announcement.

Andrea Fox is senior editor of Healthcare IT News.Email: [email protected]Healthcare IT News is a HIMSS Media publication.