Published November 20, 2025
By Laura Tyrone, JD, MPH
California’s 2025 legislative session brought a clear focus on digital health: lawmakers doubled down on AI transparency and safety, advanced data-exchange and telehealth infrastructure, and continued to bolster patient privacy. Across committees, two themes dominated — oversight of AI used in or adjacent to clinical care, and investment in the infrastructure that allows providers and public programs to share data securely.
On AI specifically, the Legislature focused on transparency and reducing the risk of patient confusion or harm stemming from the use of generative or algorithmic tools in health settings. AB 489 targets deceptive or overly authoritative representations by digital tools that could appear to provide clinical judgment. SB 53’s disclosure and safety requirements currently cover only large frontier developers but could be indicative of the direction the legislature is heading on future disclosure legislation. SB 81, meanwhile, tightens what constitutes protected medical information, especially as more data flows into AI-assisted platforms.
- AB 489 – Restricts AI from presenting itself as a clinician.
- SB 53 – Requires safety, training, and transparency disclosures from “frontier” AI developers (a limited number of very large companies).
- SB 81 – Strengthens privacy obligations
Finally, lawmakers advanced the infrastructure that makes digital health effective statewide. AB 688 reinforces Medi-Cal’s telehealth expansion and supports standardized data collection to measure virtual-care access. SB 660 updates governance and participation requirements for the California Health & Human Services Data Exchange Framework, continuing the state’s push toward interoperable, statewide data sharing.
- AB 688 – Expands Medi-Cal telehealth reporting and access initiatives.
- SB 660 – Establishes centralized oversight of Data Exchange Framework under HCAI, expands required data-sharing entities, and mandates a stakeholder advisory group to guide secure and accessible data exchange.
The wave of regulation underscores that while innovation is still encouraged in California’s health-tech ecosystem, it is subject to more layered compliance than before, especially around risk, trust, bias, patient safety, and provider/patient roles.
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