Google Cloud advances healthcare AI with multimodal search and visual Q&A at HIMSS25
AI-driven healthcare is here! Google Cloud’s Visual Q&A and Gemini 2.0 are transforming how clinicians analyze multimodal data, leading to faster diagnoses and improved patient outcomes.
Las Vegas, NV — At the HIMSS25 Global Health Conference, Google Cloud introduced significant enhancements to its Vertex AI Search platform, aiming to revolutionize data accessibility and analysis in healthcare settings. The unveiling of Visual Q&A and the integration of Gemini 2.0 mark pivotal advancements in how medical professionals interact with complex patient data.
Visual Q&A: Interpreting complex medical imagery
Visual Q&A is a groundbreaking feature that allows direct analysis of medical images, tables, charts, and diagrams without the need for manual text conversion. This capability enables clinicians to input visual data directly into the system, facilitating more comprehensive and efficient searches. For instance, a physician can submit a diagram indicating areas of patient discomfort alongside corresponding symptoms, allowing for a holistic view of the patient’s condition.
This feature also excels in interpreting structured data from medical forms, such as tables and charts, integrating this information seamlessly into search results. By doing so, Visual Q&A provides clinicians with a more complete understanding of patient health, enhancing diagnostic accuracy and treatment planning.
Gemini 2.0: Enhancing multimodal data processing
The integration of Gemini 2.0 into Vertex AI Search significantly elevates the platform’s ability to process and analyze diverse data types, including text, images, and audio. This multimodal approach ensures that healthcare professionals can access and interpret a wide array of patient information efficiently. For example, researchers analyzing extensive datasets of patient brain MRIs can utilize Gemini 2.0 to identify subtle patterns and anomalies, expediting the analysis process and potentially uncovering insights that might be overlooked by the human eye.
Implications for healthcare organizations
The advancements in Vertex AI Search, particularly with Visual Q&A and Gemini 2.0, represent a significant leap forward in how healthcare organizations access, view, and utilize critical patient information. By enabling the processing of both textual and visual data, these tools provide a more comprehensive picture of a patient’s health, facilitating accurate diagnoses and personalized treatment plans.
Aashima Gupta, Global Director for Healthcare at Google Cloud, emphasized that these multimodal capabilities allow providers to integrate diverse sources of patient data, including medical imagery and genetic information. This integration not only saves time but also enhances the quality of care delivered to patients.
Industry adoption and applications
Several healthcare organizations have already begun integrating these AI-powered tools into their operations:
• Counterpart Health is utilizing Vertex AI Search within its Counterpart Assistant software to synthesize data from over 100 medical sources. This integration supports early diagnosis and proactive management of chronic diseases, enhancing patient outcomes.
• MEDITECH has incorporated AI-powered search and summarization into its Expanse EHR system, streamlining the retrieval of patient data and improving clinical workflows.
• Suki has enhanced its AI assistant with Vertex AI Search capabilities, strengthening clinical Q&A and patient summarization, thereby accelerating decision-making processes for healthcare providers.
Future prospects
The introduction of Visual Q&A and Gemini 2.0 underscores Google Cloud’s commitment to leveraging artificial intelligence to transform healthcare delivery. By addressing the complexities of multimodal data, these tools pave the way for more integrated and efficient healthcare systems. As these technologies become more widely adopted, they hold the potential to significantly reduce administrative burdens, enhance diagnostic accuracy, and ultimately improve patient care outcomes.
Kenneth R. Deans, Jr., DHA, MBA, FACHDM is the President and CEO of Health Sciences South Carolina