“AI can flag patterns, but you – with your functional knowledge and your human judgment – determine intent.”
This is a quote from Arjuna Swaminathan, chief artificial intelligence officer at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General (HHS OIG), speaking yesterday at RISE National 2026 in Orlando.
He defined an “integrity loop”: AI handles speed and scale, humans provide context, ethics, and clinical wisdom. Together, they close the gap that neither can close alone. It’s a great model for both care delivery and administrative tasks that require member engagement and activation.
At Twig Health, our nurses are the ones building relationships with members, navigating barriers to adherence, and making the judgment calls. AI doesn’t replace that – it copilots it. It surfaces the right information at the right moment, so our nurses can spend their time on what only humans can do.
The alternative – pure automation – is what Swaminathan warned about: faster mistakes, algorithmic bias, and a “defensibility gap” when you can’t explain a decision. It’s also soulless.
Health plans are under more scrutiny than ever. The DOJ just had a record $6.8B year in False Claims Act enforcement. Every vendor relationship is a compliance question. Every care model is being pressure-tested.
In that environment, “we use AI” isn’t a differentiator, it’s a potential liability.
However, “Our clinicians are empowered by AI” – now that’s the standard worth building toward.
The integrity loop isn’t a nice-to-have. It’s the architecture.
📰 Full coverage from the RISE National 2026 keynote here.