On 29 July 2026, the UK’s Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (“MHRA”) (the regulatory authority with responsibility for enforcing UK medical device rules) published new guidance on ambient voice technology-enabled products (“AVTs,” also known as ambient scribing tools) (“AVT Guidance”). The AVT Guidance is intended to clarify (and essentially overrule) a decision by NHS
On December 29, 2025, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (“HHS”), through the Assistant Secretary for Technology Policy (“ASTP”)/Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (“ONC”) (collectively, “ASTP/ONC”), issued a proposed rule to update its Health Data, Technology, and Interoperability (“HTI”) regulations, as well as a notice to withdraw prior proposals
With 2026 underway, signs point to another year focused on enhancing health IT and digital health innovation. From new payment models to deregulatory efforts, these developments show that digital health continues to be increasingly central to the healthcare and life sciences sectors. Below are five key developments to watch unfold in the year ahead.
On September 30, 2025, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued a Request for Public Comment seeking input on “practical approaches to measuring and evaluating the performance of AI-enabled medical devices in the real-world,” including strategies for detecting, assessing, and mitigating performance changes over time (the “Request”).
The Request acknowledges the opportunities for AI,
On July 30, 2025, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) announced a new Health Technology Ecosystem Initiative—a collaborative effort between government and industry to unlock innovation by modernizing healthcare data flows among patients, providers, payers, and technology platforms. The new initiative does not contemplate any
As the Covington team discussed in a recent article, use of AI models in biopharma is on the rise, with use cases spanning the life cycle of drugs and biologics, including product development, manufacturing, and pharmacovigilance. Recently, FDA announced its own intentions to aggressively scale the use of AI in regulatory review and launched
FDA recently announced that it will host a public workshop on August 6, 2024 focused on “Artificial Intelligence (AI) in Drug & Biological Product Development.” Aimed at bringing drug sponsors and AI experts together, the workshop, hosted in collaboration with the Clinical Trials Transformation Initiative, will feature presentations and a panel discussion around guiding principles
On April 30, 2024, the UK Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (“MHRA”) outlined its strategic approach (“Approach”) to artificial intelligence (“AI”). The Approach is a response to the UK Government’s white paper: a pro-innovation approach to AI regulation and subsequent Secretary of State letter of 1 February 2024, and is the culmination of 12
In early March 2024, the EU lawmakers reached agreement on the European Health Data Space (EHDS). For now, we only have a work-in-progress draft version of the text, but a number of interesting points can already be highlighted. This article focuses on the implications for “wellness applications” and medical devices; for an overview of the EHDS
On March 15, 2024, FDA’s medical product centers – CBER, CDER, and CDRH – along with the Office of Combination Products (OCP) published a paper outlining their key areas of focus for the development and use of artificial intelligence (AI) across the medical product life cycle. The paper, entitled “Artificial Intelligence & Medical Products: