The Tech Works. The System Doesn't: Portugal Buys AI Physio, the First AI Complaints Land, and the Wild West of Health Apps
About this episode
The episode discusses the challenges and developments in digital health, focusing on AI physiotherapy in Portugal, complaints about AI use in the UK, and the regulatory landscape of health apps.
This week on Pulse: Hot Topics, Louise and George look at what happens when digital health stops being a pilot and starts being a system decision — and why, again and again, the technology isn't the hard part. Portugal Buys AI Physiotherapy for an Entire Country — Portugal's National Health Service has contracted Sword Health to make AI-supported physiotherapy available to all 10 million citizens, free after a prescription, prompting the question: are governments shifting from buying AI software to buying AI-delivered healthcare? AI and Accountability: The First Complaints Land — The UK's first complaints about clinicians' inappropriate use of AI have reached professional regulators, arriving well before the evidence base and accountability frameworks are ready. 95% of Health Apps Have No Verifiable Regulatory Approval — Rudolf Wagner's analysis found that of nearly 96,000 apps qualifying as Software as a Medical Device, 95% had no verifiable CE marking or FDA authorisation, leaving consumers with no easy way to know what they're actually using. Doctors Want Wearable Data, But Can't Use It — A new AMA(US) survey found 97% of physicians would review data from a patient's wearable…
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