Former acting Health and Human Services Secretary Eric Hargan expressed confidence Thursday that HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s technology-focused team will accelerate artificial intelligence adoption in healthcare, telling a Daily Caller Live panel he doesn’t expect them to shy away from the emerging technology.
“I don’t think they will be scared of this in a way that you might have seen with my generation,” Hargan said at the American Healthcare event at the Waldorf Astoria in Washington, D.C. “Secretary Kennedy has really assembled a team that’s very strong in technology … as we always say in politics, personnel is policy.” (RELATED: Saul Anuzis Warns Medicaid Fraud ‘Hammering’ Seniors At Daily Caller Live)
Hargan, who served as Deputy Secretary of HHS under President Donald Trump’s first administration, joined Abundance Institute Head of AI Policy Neil Chilson on a panel moderated by Daily Caller Editor Thomas English examining artificial intelligence’s role in transforming the medical industry.
WATCH: Daily Caller editor @tenglishDC sits down with @neil_chilson and @EricDHargan for a deep dive on how AI is reshaping American healthcare — from innovation to regulation and everything in between.
Daily Caller Live: American Healthcare | Presented by Secure Our Care pic.twitter.com/p6rcU4DSlH
— Daily Caller (@DailyCaller) February 19, 2026
Chilson acknowledged that healthcare practitioners face a learning curve with AI but urged them to embrace the technology as a force multiplier.
“Part of the challenge is that AI is such a general purpose technology,” Chilson said. “They haven’t been able to learn how to use it day to day. People should use this as an intelligence amplifier.”
Chilson said AI could democratize access to specialist-level care, potentially eliminating geographic barriers for patients in underserved areas.
“One of my greatest hopes from the healthcare space is that we can take the best knowledge that we have and make sure that every doctor, every clinician, and every patient has that information,” he said, “so that you don’t necessarily have to reach across the country to a specialist.”
On the thorny question of liability when AI-assisted diagnoses go wrong, Hargan predicted a shift in legal expectations.
“At some point, we’re going to see people go from it’s nice to have to why didn’t you use it,” he warned, suggesting malpractice attorneys may eventually question physicians who fail to consult AI tools.