SB 3702
REGISTERED NURSE USE OF AI
TL;DR
Illinois Senator Graciela Guzmán's bill would prohibit hospitals and healthcare employers from using AI to replace registered nurses' clinical judgment or to make final patient care decisions without RN oversight. It targets AI tools that recommend diagnoses, staffing levels, or treatment plans in nursing workflows. The bill sits in committee and has been re-referred to Assignments, meaning it has not yet advanced.
How This Might Impact Your Business
Hospitals, nursing homes, and home health agencies in Illinois that deploy AI for clinical decision support would need to keep a registered nurse in the loop for any patient care decision the AI influences.
Health tech vendors selling AI nurse-staffing tools, patient acuity algorithms, or clinical alert systems to Illinois facilities would face new contractual requirements around RN oversight and documentation.
Telehealth and remote patient monitoring companies using AI triage would likely need workflow changes so an RN reviews and signs off on AI-generated recommendations.
Workforce automation plans that aim to reduce nursing headcount through AI could be blocked or limited, affecting labor cost projections for hospital systems.
Compliance documentation requirements are likely, meaning IT and nursing leadership would need joint audit trails showing human RN review of AI outputs.
The bill is still in committee with no enacted penalties yet, but Illinois has a pattern of passing AI workplace laws (see the 2024 amendments to the Illinois Human Rights Act), so businesses should treat this as a credible near-term risk.
No size threshold or small-business exemption is specified in the current text, so independent clinics and large hospital networks alike would be covered.
What Should You Do
Inventory every AI or algorithmic tool your Illinois nursing staff currently uses, including staffing software, EHR clinical alerts, and patient acuity scoring, and flag which ones make or influence care decisions.
Ask your Chief Nursing Officer and legal team to draft an RN oversight policy now so you have a defensible workflow ready if the bill advances.
Review vendor contracts with clinical AI providers for indemnification and compliance support language tied to Illinois nursing laws.
Assign someone to track SB 3702 through the Illinois Senate Assignments Committee and alert leadership when it gets a hearing date.
If you are planning AI-driven nursing workforce reductions in Illinois, pause the business case and rerun assumptions with mandatory RN oversight built in.
Who It Affects
Sponsors
Status Timeline
committee
Rule 3-9(a) / Re-referred to Assignments
May 22, 2026