Strategies for developing customized foundation AI models to optimize clinical development processes and improve patient outcomes across the healthcare continuum

Customized foundation AI models are advanced machine learning systems made just for healthcare tasks. These models are built using large datasets and are adjusted to handle specific problems. They help with different stages of clinical development—from early drug research to clinical trials, and then to treatment and patient involvement.

One example is the work between IQVIA and NVIDIA. They use NVIDIA’s NIM Agent Blueprints, NeMo Customizer, and NeMo Guardrails to build AI models made for life sciences. These models support important clinical tasks like finding drug targets, reviewing clinical data, analyzing research papers, assessing markets, and working with healthcare professionals.

IQVIA has about 89,000 employees in over 100 countries. They mix deep healthcare knowledge with strong AI technology to make sure their AI solutions are accurate, fast, and follow rules. In the U.S., where safety and rules are very important, such teamwork shows a practical way to combine clinical skills with new technology to speed up research and improve results in patient care.

Key Strategies for Developing Customized AI Models in Healthcare

1. Leveraging Healthcare-Specific Data and Domain Expertise

Building AI systems for healthcare needs large and high-quality data specific to the field. This includes clinical results, genetic information, patient details, and treatment responses. These must be included in training data so the AI can understand complex situations.

IQVIA shows this by using large healthcare datasets and adding scientific knowledge in their AI development. Their AI tools are made for life sciences tasks, giving outputs that fit the challenges of clinical trials and medical studies.

For healthcare groups in the U.S., working with organizations that have both healthcare knowledge and data science skills is important. This helps avoid using general AI that might miss important parts of patient care, clinical rules, and legal requirements in different hospitals and specialties.

2. Utilizing Modular AI Development Platforms

Modular platforms like NVIDIA’s NIM Agent Blueprints and NeMo Customizer help build clinical AI models faster. These tools allow AI developers to put together basic AI functions quickly and then change them for life sciences uses like drug target checking and clinical data combining.

U.S. medical groups can use similar modular AI platforms for tailored AI solutions that match their specific clinical needs. Modular AI development also lets hospitals update models over time as new health trends, clinical findings, or regulations appear. This affects tasks such as patient data handling and compliance checks.

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3. Ensuring Data Privacy and Regulatory Compliance

With laws like HIPAA in the U.S., keeping patient data safe is very important. AI must be used in ways that fully follow these laws. Privacy tools should protect personal health information.

IQVIA uses many ways to protect privacy and stay within rules during AI creation and use. Medical leaders should choose AI providers who have good compliance records and are open about how they handle data. This is important because clinical development often uses sensitive patient data and is watched by regulators.

AI and Workflow Automation in Clinical Development and Patient Care

Besides custom AI models that analyze clinical data and speed up drug research, AI-driven automation can also make healthcare workflows smoother. This can reduce extra work and improve how well things run.

Automating Front-Office and Patient Engagement Tasks

One example is Simbo AI, which automates front-office phone tasks using AI. In busy U.S. medical offices, this helps reduce missed calls and improves patients’ access to care. It frees staff to spend more time with patients and doing clinical work.

Automating routine communication makes the patient experience easier. It helps patients stay connected and reduces delays caused by busy office workers. From answering phones to sending appointment reminders, AI virtual assistants can handle many calls and answer common questions without needing people.

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Streamlining Clinical Data Review and Literature Research

Clinical research involves going through many scientific papers, patient files, and trial data. AI tools made by IQVIA and NVIDIA help researchers review large amounts of data faster, find important studies, and get useful insights for checking drug targets and designing trials.

U.S. healthcare systems can use these AI tools to quicken literature reviews and data extraction. This saves time in trial planning and speeds up treatment development. Quick progress is important because new treatments get to patients faster.

Predictive Patient Needs and Care Prioritization Models

CipherHealth shows how AI models can predict patient needs and decide which care tasks to do first. Hospital leaders and IT managers can use AI for better resource use, improved care, and better results.

This means AI can flag patients at high risk needing fast follow-up, suggest the best clinician rounds schedule, or guide outreach plans for chronic diseases. These uses help reduce bad events and boost staff efficiency, especially in large U.S. hospitals with many patients and heavy workloads.

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Natural Language Processing (NLP) for Enhanced Clinical Communication

NLP tools help analyze free-text clinical notes, patient feedback, and conversation records. CipherHealth uses NLP to study patient feelings and find ways to improve communication. This leads to better patient interactions and satisfaction.

In U.S. clinics where patient experience can affect payments, NLP is useful to make sure feedback is understood and acted on. Knowing patient feelings helps improve training and processes for both clinical and office teams.

Integrating AI into the U.S. Healthcare Continuum: Practical Considerations

Using custom AI models and automation in U.S. healthcare requires careful planning. IT managers and practice leaders need to think about how AI works with current Electronic Health Record (EHR) systems, staff training, budgets, and following rules.

  • Interoperability and Data Integration
    AI systems must connect well with EHRs and hospital information systems. AI should handle different data types—voice, text, images, and tables—and follow data exchange standards like HL7 or FHIR to make data flow easy.
  • Staff Training and Change Management
    Staff need training to understand AI outputs, trust the AI advice, and use automated tools well. This helps get the most efficiency and lowers chances of mistakes or resistance.
  • Cost-Benefit Alignment
    Although AI may involve initial costs, the gains in running smoothly and better patient results make it worthwhile. Healthcare leaders in the U.S. should choose AI by looking at proven returns, faster trials, better patient satisfaction, and less burden on staff.
  • Compliance and Ethical Use
    Following HIPAA, FDA rules for trials, and FDA guidance on AI in medical devices is very important. Ethical issues like data bias, transparency, and patient consent must also be handled carefully to provide fair care.

The Road Ahead

Progress is clear in using custom AI models and AI automation to improve clinical research and patient care in the U.S. The partnership between IQVIA and NVIDIA shows a growing trend of joining AI with health knowledge to solve real healthcare problems. CipherHealth’s work on patient experience and efficiency shows practical benefits of AI automation.

For hospital leaders, owners, and IT managers, understanding these tools and strategies is key to positioning their practices for better clinical work and patient outcomes. By focusing on tailored AI models, privacy, modular AI platforms, and training staff, U.S. healthcare groups can meet modern medical demands while managing costs and rules well.

Frequently Asked Questions

What are the new AI agents launched by IQVIA designed to do?

IQVIA’s new AI agents, developed with NVIDIA technology, are designed to enhance workflows and accelerate insights specifically for life sciences, helping streamline clinical research, simplify operations, and improve patient outcomes across various stages like target identification, clinical data review, literature review, and healthcare professional engagement.

How does IQVIA collaborate with NVIDIA to develop these AI agents?

IQVIA uses NVIDIA’s NIM Agent Blueprints for rapid development, NeMo Customizer for fine-tuning AI models, and NeMo Guardrails to ensure safe deployment. This collaboration enables customized agentic AI workflows that meet the unique needs of the life sciences industry.

What is the significance of agentic AI in healthcare workflows according to IQVIA?

Agentic AI provides precision, efficiency, and speed in critical workflows such as planning clinical trials, reviewing literature, and commercial launches, allowing life sciences companies to gain actionable insights faster and improve decision-making.

Which specific use cases do IQVIA’s AI agents address in life sciences?

Use cases include target identification for drug development, clinical data review, literature review, market assessment, and enhanced engagement with healthcare professionals (HCPs), which collectively improve research and commercial processes.

What role does domain expertise play in the development of IQVIA’s AI agents?

IQVIA integrates deep life sciences and healthcare domain expertise with advanced AI technology to deliver highly relevant, accurate, and compliant AI-powered solutions tailored to the industry’s complex workflows.

How does IQVIA ensure privacy and compliance with AI in healthcare?

IQVIA employs a variety of privacy-enhancing technologies and safeguards, adhering to stringent regulatory requirements to protect individual patient privacy while enabling large-scale data analysis for improved health outcomes.

What distinguishes IQVIA Healthcare-grade AI® in the context of clinical research?

Healthcare-grade AI® by IQVIA is specifically built for the precision, speed, trust, and regulatory compliance needed in life sciences, facilitating high-quality actionable insights throughout the clinical asset lifecycle.

How can AI agents accelerate the clinical trial process?

AI agents accelerate clinical trials by efficiently sifting through vast literature, identifying relevant data, coordinating workflow stages from discovery to commercial application, and reducing time-consuming manual tasks.

What is the strategic importance of IQVIA’s collaboration with NVIDIA?

The partnership accelerates the development of customized foundation models and agentic AI workflows to enhance clinical development and access to new treatments, pushing the future of life sciences research and commercialization.

What upcoming event will showcase further insights on AI in life sciences from IQVIA?

IQVIA TechIQ 2025, a two-day conference in London, will feature thought leaders including NVIDIA, exploring strategic approaches to AI implementation in life sciences to navigate the evolving frontier of healthcare AI applications.