Healthcare AI Learning
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Guide 02How an AI Healthcare Application Fits Together

From healthcare data to real-world impact — the building blocks, the flow and the safeguards.

The six layers between a hospital's data and a clinical outcome, with the governance that applies across all of them.

A4 sheet — scroll sideways or pinch to zoom

Visual Guide 02 · Foundation / Technical / Builder

How an AI Healthcare Application Fits Together

From healthcare data to real-world impact — the building blocks, the flow and the safeguards.

Healthcare AI Learning

6People & impactClinician · Patient · Operations · Research & innovation

AI supports workflows and outcomes; it is not the endpoint.

5AI applicationsClinical documentation / scribe · Patient assistant & education · Decision support · Workflow automation · Operations & research
4AI orchestrationLLM · Tools & actions · Agent / workflow · Guardrails & safety · Evaluation & monitoring
3Retrieval & accessRAG · Vector database (one retrieval mechanism, not RAG itself) · MCP · Direct API calls · Context assembly
2InteroperabilityFHIR (healthcare data standard) · APIs · SMART on FHIR · DICOM / DICOMweb · Terminologies: SNOMED CT, LOINC, UCUM, ICD where relevant
1Healthcare dataEHR / EPD · Laboratory · Imaging / PACS · Monitoring, devices & wearables · Clinical notes · Patient-reported data · External knowledge & guidelines

Example flow

Example task (synthetic): summarise a patient's latest HbA1c in the context of diabetes follow-up.

1. Retrieve relevant patient data via an approved FHIR/API path

2. Retrieve contextual or guideline information where needed (RAG / approved source)

3. Assemble a bounded context

4. LLM creates a draft

5. Clinician reviews and validates

6. Output used in the workflow — better-informed care

Key takeaways

  • It is a system, not a single technology.
  • Context quality matters more than model choice.
  • Healthcare adds safety, privacy and governance requirements.
  • The goal is measurable real-world value, not AI for its own sake.
Healthcare AI Learning · Visual Guide 02Updated Sep 2026

Summarises the sources cited in the related Healthcare AI Learning courses: AI in Healthcare, Healthcare Data & FHIR for AI, Building GenAI Applications in Healthcare. Updated Sep 2026; regulatory content checked between 25 August and 10 September 2026. Educational summary only — not legal or clinical advice.

Related learning

AI in HealthcareOpen
Healthcare Data & FHIR for AIOpen
Building GenAI Applications in HealthcareOpen

Guides summarise the same primary sources cited in the related courses — official EU legal texts, standards bodies and peer-reviewed literature. Educational summaries only, not legal or clinical advice; regulatory dates were checked between 25 August and 10 September 2026.

Updated Sep 2026