AI Disclosure. How we use, and don't use, artificial intelligence.

Artificial intelligence tools are now part of healthcare, marketing, and administrative work across most modern medical practices — including Newport Center for Special Surgery. We believe patients have a right to know where AI is used in their care and in the materials they see from us, and where it is not. This page describes our current practices honestly.

NCSS is a physician-owned practice. Every clinical decision that affects your care — whether surgical, anesthetic, or therapeutic — is made by a licensed physician, not by an AI system. That is the foundational commitment. What follows describes the specific ways AI is used in our operations and where our human review sits.

If you have questions about AI use in any aspect of your specific care at NCSS, please ask your physician or clinical team directly. We will answer honestly.

Below is the honest inventory of where AI tools currently support work at NCSS.

• Website content and marketing materials. The copy on this website was created with substantial AI assistance and reviewed by NCSS physicians and staff before publication. This is standard practice for modern medical websites and is disclosed here explicitly. Editorial judgments — what we say, what we don't say, how we describe our procedures — are made by our team, not by the AI.
• Patient communications. Some patient-facing communications (appointment reminders, general education materials, form letters) may be drafted with AI assistance and reviewed by staff. Individual clinical communications between you and your physician are not AI-generated.
• Administrative workflows. Scheduling systems, electronic health records, and coding tools used at NCSS may incorporate AI features from their manufacturers. These are standard vendor products used across US medical practices.
• Clinical documentation assistance. Some NCSS physicians may use AI-assisted transcription or note-drafting tools to support their documentation workflow — a technology widely adopted across US medicine in recent years. Every note produced with AI assistance is reviewed and finalized by the physician responsible for your care.
• Image analysis (where used). Certain imaging platforms include AI-assisted analysis features from their manufacturers. Where these are used, they support — but do not replace — physician review of the images.

Some functions of medical care are, in our judgment, work that belongs to humans. These are where AI is not used at NCSS.

• Clinical decision-making. Diagnostic decisions, treatment recommendations, surgical planning, and anesthetic management are made by licensed physicians based on their training, clinical judgment, and direct evaluation of you. AI is not making these decisions.
• The pre-operative consultation. Every scheduled surgical patient at NCSS is offered a free personal pre-operative consultation with Dr. Rand Scott. That conversation is between you and a physician — not with an AI system.
• The Rest-Assure perioperative program. Physician anesthesia on every case, one-to-one nurse continuity from arrival through discharge, and post-operative direct access to your surgeon are all human-delivered by design. These are the parts of care where continuous human judgment matters most.
• Before-and-after patient photos. Any before-and-after patient photos displayed on this site or shown to you in consultation are real photographs of real patients who have given consent for their use. They are not AI-generated, and they are not AI-modified beyond standard lighting or cropping adjustments that would be applied to any medical photograph.
• Your medical record itself. The clinical content of your medical record is generated by the physicians and clinical staff caring for you, even where AI-assisted documentation tools support the drafting process. The physician responsible for your care reviews and stands behind every note in your record.

Regardless of whether AI is involved in any specific workflow, your protected health information is handled under HIPAA and other applicable privacy laws.

• HIPAA compliance. All AI tools used at NCSS for any function that touches protected health information are contractually required to meet HIPAA compliance standards, including appropriate business associate agreements where required.
• Vendor selection with privacy in mind. AI tools and platforms used in our practice are selected in part based on their data-handling practices and their ability to process information without training on it or exposing it to unauthorized parties.
• De-identification where appropriate. Where AI tools are used for aggregate analysis or process improvement, patient data is de-identified according to applicable standards before analysis.
• Marketing materials do not include identifiable patient information. AI-assisted marketing content on this site and elsewhere does not use identifiable patient information as training or reference material. Patient stories and testimonials appearing on our site are used with explicit patient consent.

As a patient, you have specific rights regarding AI use in your care. NCSS supports each of them.

• The right to ask. You may ask your physician or clinical team, at any point, whether AI is being used in any aspect of your specific care. We will answer honestly. Do not hesitate to ask.
• The right to informed consent. Where AI use meaningfully affects a clinical decision or a documentation practice about your care, we will inform you. Consent for medical treatment at NCSS is between you and your physician.
• The right to opt out where possible. For workflows where opting out of AI-assisted documentation is technically feasible, patients may request an opt-out. Speak with your physician about specific preferences.
• The right to your record. You have the right to your complete medical record regardless of what technology was used to create it. Patient records are provided per HIPAA and California law.

This is a written disclosure of current practice. As with any policy, individual questions and specific situations may not be fully addressed by a general statement. If you have questions about AI use at NCSS in any aspect of your care or in materials you have received from us, please contact us directly.

• By phone. (949) 644-8182 — Monday through Thursday, 8am to 3pm; Friday by appointment.
• In person during consultation. Ask your physician or the clinical team member you are working with. Direct conversation is often the fastest path to a clear answer.
• Written record. If you would like a written response to a specific question about AI use in your care, request one through our clinical team and we will respond in writing.

This disclosure is current as of publication. Medical AI practices are evolving rapidly across the industry; we update this page as our own practices change to reflect that evolution honestly.

This disclosure sits alongside our commitments in the Rest-Assure perioperative program, our clinical philosophy at NCSS, and our approach to intellectually-honest patient communication throughout our practice.

Phone

(949) 644-8182

Hours

Monday–Thursday, 8am–3pm · Friday by appointment only