Committee hears proposal for state-run AI "Health Command" to support rural hospitals

Kevin Foote, chairman of Fast Health Corporation, told the Kentucky Senate Health Committee that his company’s proposal tied to a recently filed bill (referred to in the presentation as S.B. 175) would create a state-sanctioned AI platform to help rural hospitals triage patients, provide remote education and escalate cases to Kentucky-licensed clinicians.

Foote said the platform — shown in presentation materials as the Kentucky Virtual Rural Health Center or Kentucky Health Command — would use AI “avatars” and kiosks or mobile interfaces to give patients immediate information and, when necessary, connect them to a telehealth visit with a local provider. "This is a very, interesting concept we're gonna be looking at today, and certainly it could be the future of health care," Foote said during his remarks.

The vendor framed the proposal as a tool for rural hospitals that lack staff and specialty coverage, arguing it would keep patients loyal to in-state providers instead of out-of-state telehealth companies. Foote described a feature he called “avatar tethering” that would brand interactions with a patient around a local hospital and route resulting advertising or click revenue back to the hospital and the state.

Foote said the bill language would codify standards for an ethically operated, state-sanctioned system and a revenue split the presentation described as sending 80% of digital-ad revenue to rural hospitals and 20% to the state to maintain the platform. To emphasize need, Foote cited a usage figure for AI health queries, telling senators that AI was used "937,000,000 times last week" for health questions nationally.

Committee members pressed Foote on several points during a roughly 30-minute question-and-answer period. One committee member warned that the platform “looks more like a marketing site” than telehealth and said, "I do not think that we should be advertising to our patients," expressing concern about hospitals monetizing patient interactions. Foote replied that the intent is to create a revenue stream to sustain rural hospitals and that the state-designated platform would allow Kentucky to set standards and ethical rules for how AI presents information and advertisements.

Law and liability questions also drew sustained scrutiny. Senators asked whether the AI would provide medical advice and how malpractice or tort responsibility would be handled. Foote said the initial deployment would be an informational and triage tool that escalates to clinicians when appropriate and that later phases could add telehealth and richer clinical data exchange; he emphasized that hospitals can control answers in their admin areas. Committee members noted that the vendor did not present independent evidence in the hearing showing a quantified reduction in unnecessary emergency-room visits at participating hospitals.

Members raised technical questions about data compatibility with hospital electronic medical records, vital-signs capture and whether the system would exchange clinical data such as laboratory results or imaging. Foote said the first phase focuses on rural-hospital content and administrative reporting; he said later phases would add interfaces to support richer clinical data and remote monitoring, and that the platform aims to align with federal Rural Health Transformation (RHT) program goals.

Foote pointed to existing Fast Health deployments, including search and language-model tools used by some Kentucky hospitals, and said his company has worked with Kentucky partners and former Lexmark executives; he said these prior systems had no lawsuits and claimed the vendor follows privacy and security standards.

The hearing ended without a committee vote. Foote said he will make materials available and that he and his colleagues would follow up with committee members. The committee adjourned after the presentation and questions.

What remains unresolved: the committee sought (1) clearer evidence and independent data about any reduction in unnecessary ER visits, (2) precise legal and liability frameworks if the platform transitions from educational/triage functions to telehealth care, and (3) technical details about interoperability and the clinical data the platform would accept or exchange. The sponsor has filed the bill referenced in the presentation; no formal committee action occurred during the session.