Google's cloud division (Google Cloud) today released a new artificial intelligence (AI)-powered search function that can help medical staff quickly extract accurate clinical information from different types of medical records. The healthcare industry holds a wealth of valuable information and data, but it is difficult for clinicians to find it because it is often stored across multiple systems and formats. A new search tool released today by Google Cloud will allow doctors to pull information from clinical notes, scanned documents and electronic health records so that it can be accessed in one place.
Google says the new feature will ultimately save healthcare workers a lot of time and effort. Lisa O’Malley, senior director of product management for artificial intelligence at Google Cloud, said in an interview with the media: “New tools can eliminate the frustration of clinicians. In addition to saving time, new tools can also ensure that they find answers more easily.”
For example, if doctors want to understand a patient's medical history, they no longer need to read their notes, faxes, and electronic health records individually. Instead, they can search for things like "What medications has this patient taken in the past 12 months?" and view relevant information in one place.
O'Malley also said that Google's new search function can also be used for other critical applications, such as applying the correct billing code and determining whether a patient meets the criteria to enroll in a clinical trial.
What’s more, new capabilities can also reference and link to the original source of information, which will come directly from the organization’s own internal data. This could help alleviate concerns among clinicians that AI could produce hallucinations or inaccurate information.
The search feature will be especially valuable for health care workers, who are already burdened with staffing shortages and staggering amounts of paperwork.
A 2016 study funded by the American Medical Association (AMA) found that for every hour doctors spend with patients, they spend an additional two hours on administrative work. Physicians also tended to spend an extra hour or two doing paperwork outside of work hours, which is often their sleep time, the study said.
A survey in January this year by Medscape, a medical professional search platform, showed that 53% of doctors reported that they felt burned out in 2022, up from 42% in 2018.
With the new search feature, Google hopes to reduce the time clinicians spend digging through additional records and databases.
The new feature, called "VertexAISearch," builds on Google's existing Healthcare API and Healthcare Data Engine products and will be available to health and life sciences organizations through Google's VertexAI search platform. Companies in other industries can already use the platform to search public websites, documents and other databases.
Starting today, customers can sign up for early access to VertexAISearch for the healthcare and life sciences industries. Prior to this, Google Cloud has been testing this feature with health organizations such as the Mayo Clinic (Mayo Clinic), Hackensack Meridian Health and Highmark Health.