Anthropic expands into healthcare a week after OpenAI launched a similar product (www.businessinsider.com)

Anthropic has announced the launch of Claude for Healthcare, significantly expanding the use of AI in regulated medical industries. This HIPAA-ready tool is designed for healthcare providers, insurers, and consumers, facilitating access to critical medical data and improving workflows. The introduction follows a similar initiative by OpenAI, highlighting the fierce competition among AI firms to embed large language models into healthcare practices. Claude for Healthcare aims to alleviate administrative burdens and enhance understanding of medical information through advanced integrations with key medical databases like the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Coverage Database and PubMed. This expansion leverages improvements in Anthropic's Claude Opus 4.5 model, which reportedly performs better on medical tasks with reduced factual inaccuracies. New features include customizable "Agent Skills" for streamlining prior authorizations and enhanced connections to life sciences platforms, allowing professionals to draft compliant clinical trial protocols. Additionally, consumer-facing integrations will enable secure access to personal health records through services like HealthEx and Function Health, ensuring user data remains private. This strategic move positions Anthropic as a significant player in the healthcare AI landscape, making strides to transform how healthcare data is managed and utilized.