Right to Override Act
Current understanding
The Right to Override Act (S2997) is an introduced Senate bill that would require healthcare employers to allow clinicians to override AI clinical decision support systems in patient care, prohibit retaliation against clinicians who exercise that override, and vest enforcement authority in HHS and the Department of Labor. For developers of clinical decision support (CDS), it would presuppose an accessible override mechanism as a condition of deployment; for healthcare employers/platforms, it would create labor-side compliance obligations tied to AI use; for clinicians (users), it would establish a statutory right and whistleblower-style protection. Status: introduced.
Evidence log
- 2026-05-19 — Providing for congressional disapproval under chapter 8 of title 5, United States Code, of the rule submitted by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services of the Department of Health and Human Services relating to “Medicare Program; Implementation of Prior Authorization for Select Services for the Wasteful and Inappropriate Services Reduction (WISeR) Model”.: cross-connection with cms-wiser-model-ai-prior-authorization: Both address AI-driven decisions in healthcare coverage/clinical settings — WISeR embeds AI in Medicare prior authorization while the Right to Override Act guarantees clinicians authority to override AI clinical decision support. (novelty: 3)
- 2026-07-16 — A joint resolution providing for congressional disapproval under chapter 8 of title 5, United States Code, of the rule submitted by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services of the Department of Health and Human Services relating to “Medicare Program; Implementation of Prior Authorization for Select Services for the Wasteful and Inappropriate Services Reduction (WISeR) Model”.: cross-connection with cms-wiser-model-ai-prior-authorization: Both address AI in healthcare decision-making: WISeR embeds AI in Medicare coverage prior authorization, while the Right to Override Act would guarantee clinicians statutory authority to override AI clinical decision support — complementary payer-side and clinician-side governance of medical AI. (novelty: 3)
- 2025-10-09 — Right to Override Act: cross-connection with no-robot-bosses-act: Both regulate workplace use of automated/AI systems and constrain employer reliance on algorithmic outputs — Right to Override in clinical settings, No Robot Bosses in employment decisions. (novelty: 4)