Realization Path and Legal Safeguard of Algorithm Governance in Public Health Sector

Author: Tang Linyao

 

 

Abstract: The delegation of evaluation power from the government to third-party institutions marks the transition of the approach to graded administration of hospitals from that based on traditional grading appraisal to that based on expert judgment, yet mere hospital reference is of little help to risk-based regulatory practice in major public health incidents. The steady advancement of digital pandemic prevention and control will probably turn into reality the subjective imagination of algorithm governance in public health sector during the period of normalization of pandemic of prevention and control. Its legitimacy depends on the degree to which its promise to alleviate resource scarcity and avoid moral crisis can be realized. Compliance requirements of interpretability and legal boundaries of Rechtsfortbildung frame the structural path of machine learning; ranking algorithm may gradually give way to clustering or sorting algorithm in the long run. This paper concludes by proposing a three-layer legal “infrastructure” consisting of macroscopic guiding principles, meso-level value hierarchy and sector-specific responsibilities as the legal safeguard for the realization of algorithm governance in the public health sector.

Keywords:algorithm governance; artificial intelligence; grading appraisal; social value; legal requirements

 

Author:Tang Linyao, an assistant research fellow at CASS Law Institute.

 

Source: 3 (2021) Law Review.