Healthcare AI Policy in 2026: Only 7 of 38 OECD Countries Have an AI Strategy

About this episode

This episode discusses the current state of AI strategies in healthcare across OECD countries and the challenges of trust and regulation in AI adoption.

98% of patients welcome AI in their care — and still want a human in charge. That tension ran through the OECD and Spanish Ministry of Health conference on scaling AI in health (Madrid, late May 2026), and it frames this episode of Faces of Digital Health. Out of 38 OECD countries, only seven have a formal AI strategy and just over a tenth run workforce upskilling programmes — the ambition is outrunning the institutions meant to govern it. Host Tjaša Zajc brings together voices from across the conference to ask what actually has to change: regulation, trust, who gets a seat at the table, and the parts of the agenda nobody is funding. Featuring: - Eric Sutherland — Senior Economist, OECD - Aferdita Bytyqi — Executive Director & Founding Partner, Digital Transformations for Health Lab (DTH-Lab) - Erza Selmani — Research Fellow, DTH-Lab - Valentina Strammiello — Executive Director, European Patients Forum (EPF) - Dr Ricardo Baptista Leite — CEO, HealthAI (the Global Agency for Responsible AI in Health) - Dr Persephone Doupi — Senior Medical Officer, Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare; President, European Federation for Medical Informatics (EFMI) What the conversation covers…

People in this episode

Host: Tjaša Zajc

Guests: Eric Sutherland, Aferdita Bytyqi, Erza Selmani, Valentina Strammiello, Dr Ricardo Baptista Leite, Dr Persephone Doupi

Topics covered

• AI in healthcare
• health policy
• OECD countries
• patient trust
• workforce upskilling
• healthcare regulation

Keywords

• healthcare AI
• OECD
• patient trust
• AI strategy
• health policy
• workforce training
• digital health

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: OECD, Digital Transformations for Health Lab (DTH-Lab), European Patients Forum (EPF), HealthAI, Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare

Places: Spain

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