The American Medical Association, the Association of American Medical Colleges and other prominent U.S. medical organizations joined together to support a machine learning initiative to provide patients better access to specialty care, VentureBeat reports.
The Human Diagnosis Project comprises an online system designed to map the best steps to help practitioners diagnosis patients and connect with specialists via natural language processing and other forms of artificial intelligence. The project is collectively run by members of the global medical community.
Inspired by similar initiatives like the Human Genome Project, officials said the project aims to help individuals with varying skill levels improve their medical education — from helping an individual recognize when they should seek professional medical attention, to helping a world-class physician consider options for a complex case.
Officials said they hope to provide any patient, physician, medical organization, device or application across the nation with access to the initiative within the near future.
Since its inception in 2014, more than 6,000 physicians contributed data to the initiative, according to the report. The project operates in 10 health centers in the U.S., officials said, and will be integrated into the technology infrastructure of 10,000 public hospitals, clinics and community health centers during the next five years.