Healthcare used to lag behind other industries in tech adoption — but AI is different. Generative AI (gen AI) can improve many of the administrative burdens in healthcare, like finding the right information in a medical record, drafting paperwork or identifying candidates for a clinical trial. And as gen AI continues to evolve from a buzzword into a business essential, new advancements like AI agents, AI-powered search and AI platforms are driving new opportunities for healthcare transformation.

At the HIMSS 25 healthcare conference this week, we shared how healthcare organizations are using Google Cloud’s gen AI to build agents and search tools that can reduce administrative burden on doctors and nurses, and help them provide better care.

AI agents in healthcare

AI agents are sophisticated technologies designed to perform tasks autonomously, often mimicking human cognitive abilities. In healthcare, these agents can take on a variety of roles, from scheduling appointments to analyzing medical images. While still in early stages, researchers are exploring AI agents for a variety of uses, including personalized medicine, remote patient monitoring and drug discovery and development.

Basalt Health announced today it is launching advanced AI agents to support medical assistants (MAs). These agents help MAs get ready for upcoming patient visits by preparing patient charts and performing administrative tasks. These agents can also help identify care gaps and potential health risks, like flagging important screenings for mammograms or colonoscopies. Basalt’s agents understand nuanced medical guidance, synthesize information from both structured and unstructured patient data, and interpret complex administrative workflows. Basalt’s AI agents operate within a secure Google Cloud environment, using Vertex AI, Gemini and other Google Cloud technologies to deliver high accuracy and reliability. A key aspect of its development includes maintaining ethical standards, ensuring transparency and addressing concerns such as data privacy and algorithmic bias.

Google Agentspace makes it easier for organizations to build AI agents with Gemini’s advanced reasoning, Google-quality search and enterprise data. It gives organizations the tools and infrastructure needed to connect agents to data sources, define workflows, and manage performance.

Search with gen AI

The healthcare industry generates massive amounts of data. We often say this industry is data-rich and information-poor, because despite all the data it's still hard for healthcare workers to find what they need. AI-powered search tools go beyond traditional keyword search, using natural language processing and machine learning to understand the context and intent behind search queries. This allows organizations to bring people the most relevant and accurate information, even if it's buried deep within a vast database.

At HIMSS, several organizations shared how they're using Vertex AI Search for healthcare to provide clinicians with access to critical information, helping contribute to better patient outcomes.

Freenome: identifying candidates for cancer screenings

Biotech company Freenome is working with Google Cloud to improve colorectal cancer screening rates. Freenome has developed a blood test for early CRC detection, and it will use Google Cloud's AI tools to identify patients who should be prioritized for screening. By analyzing deidentified patient data, including risk factors, demographics and social determinants of health, Freenome can identify people who may have been missed by standard screening procedures. Freenome uses various other Google Cloud services, including Compute Engine, BigQuery and Looker, for data analysis, model training and visualization.

Counterpart Health: earlier identification and management of diseases

Counterpart Health, a subsidiary of Clover Health, announced it is using Vertex AI Search for healthcare in its Counterpart Assistant software to enable a generative AI search experience across a patient’s entire digital health record at the point of care. This enables clinicians to quickly access critical insights synthesized from more than 100 integrated data sources — such as recent tests, hospital discharges and medication adherence — to support early diagnosis and effective chronic disease management for value-based care

MEDITECH: helping clinicians find what they need

MEDITECH has integrated AI-powered search and summarization directly into its electronic health records system, Expanse. This enables clinicians to instantly receive a summarized view of relevant patient records, lab results and previous notes, all within their familiar workflows. This saves time and helps clinicians make more informed decisions.

Suki: ambient AI with search

Suki announced how its AI assistant allows doctors to use natural language to ask questions like, "What’s the latest recommendation on when patients should start colon cancer screening if they have a significant family history?" and receive concise, AI-generated answers. These new features, built with Vertex AI Search for healthcare, make Suki one of the industry's first end-to-end clinical assistants offering support for a broad range of tasks including ambient documentation, coding suggestions, patient record summaries, medical reference answers, and more.

Join Google Cloud at HIMSS booth #673 to see all of these exciting new technologies in action. You can also read more about the news in Google Cloud’s Press Corner.