health tech

How AI scribes could raise health care costs

Alex Hogan/STAT

Artificial intelligence companies offering automation for tasks like clinical documentation and medical coding have announced nearly $1 billion in funding so far this year. Companies like Ambience and Abridge are pitching their AI scribes — which listen to patient visits and then draft doctors’ notes — as a way to give patients the full attention of their doctors. But there’s another selling point for the tools: When used in combination with automated coding, they can ensure providers get paid the most money the notes justify. 

AI coding and billing software vendors told STAT’s Brittany Trang that patients won’t foot the bill for the larger invoices their tools create. That will fall to the insurer, they say. But some experts disagree. “Individuals end up paying for everything one way or another,” said health economics professor James Robinson. 

Read more from Brittany on how AI-enhanced billing could raise our health care costs. And check out this week’s video on the topic, which features some great additional insights from Brittany.

For more AI reading, we’ve got a new First Opinion essay arguing that AI should come with green, yellow, and red lights for mental health. Take a read.

business

What’s driving up employer health care costs in 2026

Here’s something to consider when weighing the claims above: Employers are going to spend a lot more money on health insurance next year due to higher costs driven by GLP-1 drugs, cancer, and mental health services, according to an annual survey.

In the survey, 121 employers who cover 11.6 million people reported that they expect health care costs to spike by a median of 9% next year. The strategies for how to manage ballooning costs vary, but can include raising premiums and deductibles for workers. Ellen Kelsay, CEO of the Business Group on Health, which ran the survey, calls passing costs to employees a “Band-aid approach.” Read more from STAT’s Tara Bannow on what’s ahead.

infectious disease

A ‘new normal’ for mosquito-borne diseases in Europe

The European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control warned today that record-breaking spikes for two mosquito-borne diseases point to a “new normal” of more widespread and intense transmission across the continent. There have been 27 outbreaks of the chikungunya virus in Europe so far this year, setting a new record. The disease is currently established in 369 European regions  — more than double what it was a decade ago. Similarly, West Nile virus has been consistently cropping up in new corners of the continent for decades, with 335 locally acquired cases and 19 deaths this year so far. 

“This makes prevention more important than ever, both through coordinated public health action and personal protection measures,” Céline Gossner, who leads the section on food, water, and vector-borne and zoonotic diseases at ECDC, said in a press release. For the best infectious disease reporting available — including on how the re-formulated ACIP recently voted on a chikungunya vaccine — follow STAT’s Helen Branswell.