Every doctor’s office has their patients sign a “consent for treatment” agreement that has some pretty normal stuff in it like you’re going to be taking drugs, they’re going to talk to pharmacists, and various other consents.  What’s unique about this year’s update to the consent for treatment is they put in a mandatory “Consent to Recording” section which unlike other sections, cannot be opted out of complete and it’s on the patient to tell every single person that comes through the door to not record the conversation.  IMHO this is the opposite of how Florida Law works and consent for recording should be given every time a new recording is taken.  In my case I made enough of a stink that they printed out the document (originally it was digital only) and marked out the A.I. section.  I then had to tell the nurse AND the ARPN I was there to see that they didn’t have my consent.  Even more concerning was that the ARPN pulled out her personal cell phone and stopped the recording, which tells me that the data governance for this system isn’t to my personal standards.  Also, since she didn’t have my permission to record she was committing a third degree felony under Florida Statute § 934.03.

The A.I. system they’re using is Abridge A.I., which is a “Generative AI for Clinical Conversations”.  No where in the documentation I was provided explained the policies for  data retention, data sharing, or exactly how “generative” this system is.  Is it purely a transcript service that summarizes the discussion during our appointment? Is the data saved for all of eternity? Is that data used to inform other patient’s discussions? How is Abridge using that data with their own partners? Are they collating the data and using it for research? Are they selling the data, access to the data, or using it to report to government entities? Just about all these questions apply to the doctor’s office as well.