Last week, a group of Amazon scientists and engineers gathered to dream big. The event was all about machine learning, a powerful type of artificial intelligence that has already transformed Amazon's business and those of other tech giants. What was different about this AI conclave was its focus on audacious possibilities in the medical field, such as using ML to revolutionize drug discovery, clinical trials, genomics and related areas. Insider obtained documents that reveal the topics, goals and challenges discussed. Together, they show Amazon's ambition to take on Google's DeepMind, a pioneer in AI-powered scientific discovery.

ORLANDO, Fla. – The healthcare business is an unusual one: Although trillions of dollars are poured into the industry, billions of people worldwide don't have reasonable access to care. Part of the solution to that gap, explained Amazon Web Services Chief Medical Officer and Director of Machine Learning Dr. Taha Kass-Hout, may be found in artificial intelligence, and in technology more broadly. "Innovations like precision medicine, conversational bots, AI scribes and APIs for data interoperability are great examples of how we can help improve care, close gaps in care, provide more efficiencies and also provide more equitable care," said Kass-Hout in a fireside chat at the HIMSS22 Machine Learning and AI for Healthcare Forum on Monday. Additionally, given the move toward the digitization of health data, particularly via the cloud, the question becomes how to use that information for the benefit of patients. One hurdle, as other HIMSS22 panelists pointed out earlier in the day, is the sheer amount of unstructured data being created.

Artificial intelligence isn't just a tool for pure tech -- health care providers can use it too. Clinical practice and AI go together, three top health care leaders at national enterprises agreed during a panel at Transform 2021 hosted by VentureBeat general manager Shuchi Rana. Using data to reduce medical waste and over-testing can help hospital systems save money, said Dr. Doug Melton, head of clinical and customer analytics at Evernorth, a subsidiary of insurance giant Cigna. "Before, we had unsupervised learning, and it was harder to do. You had to be prescriptive in your hypotheses," Melton said.

Healthcare is at an inflection point. Machine learning and data science are becoming key components in developing predictive and prescriptive analytics. AI-powered applications are transforming the health sector by reducing spend, improving patient outcomes and increasing accessibility to care.But where did AI in healthcare stem from? And what factors are driving AI use in healthcare today? Dr. Taha Kass-Hout, general manager, healthcare and AI, and chief medical officer, at Amazon Web Services, offered some historical perspective during a HIMSS20 Digital educational session, Healthcare's Prescription for Transformation: AI.

Ever since Amazon turned its gaze to healthcare, questions about the eCommerce operator's plans and intentions have outnumbered answers. That's still true, and may remain so for the time being, but this week new details emerged that, at the least, is shedding light on Amazon's healthcare vision. Here's the scoop, courtesy of court testimony: Amazon wants to, in the words of The Wall Street Journal, "redesign health insurance." And that's only one possible aim -- others involve using artificial intelligence to improve diagnoses and the overall patient experience, but we'll get to that in a bit. Among the biggest ongoing mysteries for even the most sophisticated Amazon watchers is the specific purpose of the independent healthcare company that includes Amazon, Berkshire Hathaway and JPMorgan Chase, a venture that was announced last year. Thanks to a lawsuit and unsealed court testimony over a non-compete clause involving a United Healthcare executive who joined that Amazon-backed venture, at least one of the goals of the venture -- which still has no official public name -- has emerged.

When ex-FDA chief health informatics officer Taha Kass-Hout joined Amazon as its senior leader in healthcare and AI, some saw his appointment as proof the retailing behemoth could be dealing with regulatory issues or zeroing in on digital health. Amazon has remained largely mum about its overall designs in the space, though a solidifying foray into pharmaceutical delivery with PillPack and a troika with J.P. Morgan and Berkshire Hathaway to lower healthcare costs raise the veil somewhat. Amazon's health IT efforts are a bit more clear. The company wrapped up 2018 with an expansion of its HIPAA-eligible AI services and the introduction of Amazon Comprehend Medical, a service that can process reams of electronic patient records for needed data. Kass-Hout sat down at HIMSS to talk with Healthcare Dive about his role at Amazon, its suite of web, cloud and AI services and the perennial issues in the sector.

But in a rare interview during a health conference, one of its senior leaders hinted at some areas of focus for the e-commerce giant. Taha Kass-Hout, the former U.S. Food and Drug Administration chief health informatics officer who joined Amazon in March, didn't reveal any trade secrets in the interview with the health website Stat, but indicated that Amazon sees big potential in developing AI tools for health. "AI is medicine is not a new concept," Kass-Hout said, explaining that the earliest uses of the technology in health dates to the 1960s when it was first used to navigate patients to the right place. He noted that the past year has seen a massive uptick in research papers that use "prediction and natural language understanding" in a variety of new ways. Despite that, he also cautioned that AI tools have been overhyped.

Taha Kass-Hout, MD, former and first-ever CIO for the FDA and a senior leader of artificial intelligence at Amazon, detailed how the tech giant is using AI for its healthcare services in a recent interview with STAT. A core component of Amazon's healthcare strategy is to support clinicians, according to Dr. Kass-Hout. "I hope we see that with AI we're finally getting to understand what patient has a disease, rather than what disease a patient has -- and truly start personalizing care to that level," Dr. Kass-Hout told STAT. "From a patient perspective and consumer perspective, AI is going to empower them, and for providers and healthcare systems, it's going to augment clinicians and bridge gaps." Dr. Kass-Hout also provided an update on how healthcare companies are using AWS' EHR-mining software Comprehend Medical, which launched in November 2018.

Amazon is offering a new software that can mine medical records for information, the Wall Street Journal reports. The software can reportedly scan digitized patient records and pull out data, a service that healthcare professionals can use when considering treatments and hospitals can use to cut costs. "We're able to completely, automatically look inside medical language and identify patient details with incredibly high accuracy," Matt Wood, general manager of artificial intelligence at Amazon Web Services, told the Wall Street Journal. Amazon used deep learning to train its software to analyze medical records. And according to Taha Kass-Hout, former chief health informatics officer for the FDA who was hired by Amazon earlier this year, the software performed as well as or better than similar programs.