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The New York nurses replaced by AI: ‘It should concern every patient who cares about quality of care’
(www.theguardian.com)
this post was submitted on 16 Jul 2026
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Its not those types of nurses. Its utilization review nurses and honestly every nurse in this related field knew this was likely to happen and aren't in disagreement with it. Bedside nurses (which hold greater power than other nursing in unions) have no idea what some other fields of nursing do.
Its actually good use of "AI"
How this position works is that you had nurses manually scanning and scouring different parts of the chart, manually typing down some of those findings, clicking check boxes anyways for medical necessity. Honestly, it was annoying and very administrative in nature. It took 20-25 minutes on average to do a review 10 years ago with most of it just reviewing the chart to put in your notes and check off boxes.
Technology has improved with navigators to more easily find the information so it quickened the time over the years to find the information. But I also knew this position was going to be the first place most places were going to implement AI. Why? Its honestly just pulling information. So whats going to end up happening in this field is that you're going to need less nurses to do the same volume. Its honestly better use of this sort of nurse. Have them manage more cases and audit the information being pulled by whatever AI tech is being used (If it's Interqual Autoreview, this technology dates back to 2018 and is tested). Because thats all they are doing anyways. It's a medical audit. They do help more patients this way but the union won't tell you that and disappointed that the Guardian didn't explain the finer details.
I've been telling people this is going to happen for years and most people in this specific nursing field are not opposed to it because they all use it anyways already (at least in CA). You're either using Milliman or Interqual for the job. There are no other software to use lol
Sorry this is long. Just frustrating article to read.
I don't know a lot of nurses, but those I have heard from suggest that AI in the medical field will lead to worse healthcare outcomes.
In the article they say "Shuler said her job often requires complicated communications, over things like medication changes and discharge planning, that would be hard to conduct with AI."
I don't want AI in charge of medication changes. That doesn't seem like a checkbox kind of thing. I can see how maybe it could be boiled down to a checkbox or flowchart, but it doesn't seem like it's just data entry. Which I still don't know that I want AI solely responsible for.
This is a very different type of nursing.
Its a lot of data pull. Nurses are still there to audit which is their job. The clinical part is knowing the data, ensuring its there and telling the doctors if the patient doesn't meet medical necessity by the insurance companies and what's needed if they want their patient to be covered for services. Its the doctors making the changes not the nurses. Our healthcare system does this via chat BTW.
There's not a lot of communication. I did it for at least two healthcare systems 10 years ago including Kaiser and still work with individuals at my healthcare system in this specific position. They just got more cases since its so much faster and simpler to do their job. And honestly, they're helping more patients.
I know what you mean by it doesn't seem like a checkbox sort of thing but it doesn't change the fact that checkboxes are how they've been doing it for decades.
I just did a simple YouTube search example of checkboxes at 720 min mark and 10 min. That's what its always looked like. You have nurses checking those boxes to send to insurance.
I already see some down votes but I really don't care. Just thought I would provide some education on what this work really entails as I see in the comments that many people are thinking bedside nurses are being replaced which is definitely not the case.
I think the fact it's a checkbox is irrelevant here. From what I understand, these yes/no questions have very real consequences for the patients they're about. If entering the wrong thing can have negative consequences, an AI shouldn't be filling that out. Not to mention, if the data in the medical file is wrong, a nurse who's actually spoken with the patient will actually have opportunities to correct things that an AI will never see.
I appreciate the information.
For what it's worth, I'm not downvoting you. My server doesn't allow downvotes so I can't even see them.
I just want to make sure we're doing better for people, not worse. Based off the quote it seemed like a bad idea, but I can also understand just being mad at AI taking over your job. I hope you're right and that this improves outcomes and decreases admin time. Healthcare is so important and is in a disastrous state in the US. I just want everyone to be well.