Texas SB 1188, the Electronic Health Records and AI in Healthcare Act, requires electronic health records of Texas patients to be physically stored in the United States and sets rules for AI in clinical care. Signed June 20, 2025, it has been in effect since September 1, 2025.
What Texas SB 1188 Requires
Healthcare practitioners may use AI for diagnostic purposes only if they disclose that use to patients and review the AI’s outputs. The practitioner remains responsible for the final medical judgment, so AI functions as an aid, never as the decision-maker of record.
Enforcement and Significance
The law authorizes civil penalties and gives licensing boards disciplinary authority, which puts individual practitioners’ licenses on the line alongside institutional fines. That combination makes it one of the first state laws to directly govern AI use in day-to-day medical practice.
Providers and health IT vendors serving Texas patients have two compliance workstreams: confirming records infrastructure is physically in the United States, and building patient disclosure plus documented practitioner review into any diagnostic AI workflow.
Source: Texas Legislature Online: SB 1188
Report a violation: If you believe a business is violating this law, you can file a complaint with the Texas Attorney General Consumer Protection Division.
