TerminAI, the innovative project to optimize healthcare data management through Artificial Intelligence

Nowadays, the management, use and sharing of genetic data face multiple challenges, among others, due to the lack of unified clinical standards. This issue limits their potential for diagnostics, biomedical research and integration into advanced healthcare infrastructures. Initiatives such as the European Health Data Space (EHDS) and the AI Act seek to transform this scenario, promoting the safe, interoperable and ethical use of data.

In this context, the need arises to improve the management of genetic data, through initiatives such as mapping genetic data to standard clinical terminologies using artificial intelligence, enhancing its applicability in accurate diagnoses and personalized treatments.

This is the starting point for TerminAI, a project funded by the “Support for Innovative Business Clusters 2024” program of the Ministry of Industry and Tourism, which seeks to improve the accuracy and efficiency in the coding of clinical information through Artificial Intelligence.

Among the different activities, the aim is to improve the accuracy and efficiency in the coding of clinical information through Artificial Intelligence. The project uses natural language processing and machine learning to analyze clinical data, identifying patterns and concepts that map to SNOMED CT terms or other standard terminologies.

As part of the TerminAI initiative, Vicomtech develops technologies and activities aligned with three strategic areas.

First, in AI-assisted clinical coding: Vicomtech researches natural language processing (NLP) and machine learning algorithms, including the use of large language models (LLMs), to enable the syntactic and semantic mapping of clinical variables to standard terminologies. The aim is to promote data standardization, harmonization, and interoperability. In doing so, Vicomtech supports experts in clinical coding processes, improving data quality and consistency, and contributing to the FAIR principles to facilitate secondary use, clinical research, medical decision-making, and the efficient management of healthcare resources.

Secondly, the center explores emerging technologies for generating artificial data that is representative at a population level, with the goal of preserving individual privacy without compromising data utility. This line of research has potential applications in areas such as the creation or balancing of cohorts with specific genetic characteristics for research, the validation and development of more robust or generalizable detection and variant interpretation algorithms —through the generation of synthetic files such as FASTQ, BAM, or VCF—, as well as the secure sharing of genetic data in collaborative environments.

Finally, Vicomtech works on regulatory compliance and integration into European infrastructures: the center also explores how the solutions under development can support regulatory compliance within health data spaces (EHDS, AI Act, or MDR) and how to align TerminAI’s technologies with European infrastructure initiatives such as BBMRI-ERIC, EUCAIM, or emerging components of EHDS2, ensuring adherence to legal and technical requirements that guarantee the security, compatibility, and reusability of health data across pan-European environments.

By connecting the technologies developed at the center with these initiatives, it facilitates secondary use of data, fosters international collaboration, and contributes to the development of innovative medical solutions that drive the advancement of biomedical research.