Anthropic and OpenEvidence announced on 22 September that they would bring free AI clinical decision support to physicians in nearly 100 low- and middle-income countries, extending a service already free to clinicians in the US and Europe, Benzinga reported.
Key points
- The planned rollout includes Angola, Haiti, Mongolia, Sudan and Uganda.
- OpenEvidence founder Daniel Nadler said US clinicians made 42 million consultations through the platform in August.
- Anthropic will provide the AI infrastructure. OpenEvidence will adapt the tool to regional diseases and diagnostic resources.
OpenEvidence plans a rollout across around 100 countries
OpenEvidence uses peer-reviewed medical research and treatment guidelines to answer physicians’ clinical questions, PYMNTS reported. The version planned for the new countries is intended for healthcare providers in places where access to medical literature, specialist advice and continuing medical education can be limited. The service is already available without charge to clinicians in the US and Europe.
Angola, Haiti, Mongolia, Sudan and Uganda are among the roughly 100 countries in the programme, PYMNTS reported, citing a list supplied by OpenEvidence. The country list gives the partnership a defined geographic scope beyond its existing US and European availability. The companies are offering the specialised version to healthcare providers free of charge.
OpenEvidence founder Daniel Nadler described the platform as “context adaptive”. He said many physicians in underserved areas have smartphones despite lacking reliable electricity. Anthropic is supplying the back-end AI infrastructure, while OpenEvidence is tailoring the service to regional disease patterns and the diagnostic resources available to physicians, according to the companies.
Nadler said access to medical knowledge should not depend on a physician’s location. The companies plan a specialised version of the existing clinical search product for healthcare providers in the new countries. Its answers draw on research and treatment guidance, while the regional work addresses the diseases and diagnostic tools physicians encounter locally.
US clinicians logged 42 million August consultations
US clinicians made 42 million consultations through OpenEvidence in August, Nadler said, according to Benzinga. That figure describes use of the existing platform in one market. The free US and European service is the nearest operating comparison for the planned rollout, although the new version is being adapted for different healthcare settings.
The existing consultation volume gives OpenEvidence an established product to bring to the partnership. Under the division of work announced by the companies, Anthropic contributes the AI technology behind it and OpenEvidence handles the clinical and regional tailoring. Both roles matter to the plan: the same search service will need to answer questions against the medical information and diagnostic resources relevant to each setting.
Healthcare organisations are using AI for logistics, customer service, workforce planning and model development, while adoption across the sector remains less extensive than in financial services, according to PYMNTS Intelligence research. Critics have warned that tools trained chiefly on data from wealthier countries may be poorly matched to local medical practice. OpenEvidence’s regional adaptations are part of the companies’ stated approach to those differences.
Anthropic supplies AI infrastructure for the free service
The arrangement places Anthropic behind a specialised clinical product rather than directly in front of physicians. OpenEvidence supplies the service through which doctors ask questions and receive answers based on medical research and guidelines. For the new countries, the companies say that service will remain free to healthcare providers as its clinical coverage is adapted to local conditions.
Anthropic President Daniela Amodei said the technology needed for the expansion was available, but that “the market incentives alone would not let it happen without this type of entrepreneurial, philanthropically minded work”, Benzinga reported. Her account places the free rollout alongside the companies’ decision to supply infrastructure and regional clinical work to physicians beyond OpenEvidence’s existing markets.
