Madrid Health Service collaborates with Microsoft and Fundación 29, leveraging GenAI for precise rare disease diagnostics.

Madrid Health Service (Servicio Madrileño de Salud, SERMAS) is harnessing GenAI to transform the diagnosis of rare diseases. This initiative, a first in Spain and globally, emerges from a collaboration between the Community of Madrid’s Department of Digitalization, Microsoft, and Fundación 29. The pilot project, integrating OpenAI’s GPT-4 and Microsoft’s Azure OpenAI Service, will debut in Primary Care centers across Madrid by late September.

Traditionally, patients with rare diseases undergo a prolonged, often five-year journey, consulting up to seven specialists for a definitive diagnosis. However, SERMAS aims to drastically reduce this timeline using the GenAI application DxGPT. This tool, developed by Fundación 29 and Microsoft, does not supplant physicians but rather amplifies their diagnostic prowess, potentially reducing the diagnostic timeframe to mere minutes.

Miguel López Valverde, Head of Digitalization at the Community of Madrid, accentuates the role of GenAI in advancing healthcare, particularly in early disease detection. DxGPT, while not replacing medical professionals, offers an augmented diagnostic process, assisting in quicker, more precise patient evaluations and facilitating timely specialist referrals.

The application, designed as a conversational assistant, initiates with the physician inputting a brief clinical patient description. Utilizing GPT-4, it suggests potential pathologies, refining diagnoses with added data like medical history and lab results. This leads to more informed decisions, accelerating treatment processes.

Julián Isla, Head of Fundación 29, and Alberto Granados, President of Microsoft Spain, echo the sentiment, lauding the project’s potential in healthcare digital transformation. This pilot project not only stands to revolutionize rare disease diagnostics but also opens avenues for broader GenAI applications in healthcare.