Back to News

UMC Utrecht leads major AI projects for better healthcare

General research

UMC Utrecht will play a leading role over the next ten years in two major national collaborations focused on artificial intelligence (AI) in healthcare. Two national consortia led by UMC Utrecht will receive tens of millions in funding for this purpose, including from the Dutch Research Council (NWO). Within these consortia, partners from healthcare, research, society, and industry will use AI to make healthcare better, faster, and more accessible.

Dutch healthcare faces major challenges. The population is aging, more people are living with multiple conditions at the same time, and costs are rising. At the same time, there is a growing shortage of healthcare personnel. It is estimated that by 2040, one in four workers would need to work in healthcare to meet demand.

AI can help organize healthcare in a smarter and more efficient way. However, although many AI applications for healthcare are being developed, only a limited number are making it into everyday clinical practice. AI4HEALTH and Trinitas HORIZON aim to change this by developing AI that is more applicable in healthcare.

The national program AI4HEALTH aims to improve the use of AI across all parts of healthcare. Led by Prof. Dr. Carl Moons of UMC Utrecht, dozens of partners are working together toward one goal: applying and scaling reliable, effective, and safe AI that becomes an integral part of healthcare. The project aims not only to improve healthcare, but also the quality of life of Dutch citizens and patients.

From isolated solutions to a better system

“AI4HEALTH does not focus on isolated solutions, but on improving the entire healthcare system using AI,” Carl emphasizes. That is why the program looks not only at the full care process, but also at all the steps needed to develop and use AI. This includes collecting and safely using data, developing and testing AI, and implementing, reimbursing, and maintaining it.

AI4HEALTH focuses on disease areas where the impact of AI is large: cardiovascular diseases, cancer, dementia and mental health conditions, and regenerative medicine.

Within these domains, AI4HEALTH develops, tests, and implements many concrete AI applications in real-world healthcare practice: from the hospital to the home setting. “At the same time, the program is building secure ways to share and use data,” Carl says. “It also develops clear guidelines for the responsible use of AI in healthcare.”

Broad consortium, major investment

Collaboration is the foundation of AI4HEALTH. In addition to the NWO, the large national program is co-funded by a broad network of partners. Researchers from university medical centers, technical universities, universities of applied sciences, and other knowledge institutions work together with teaching and general hospitals, health foundations, and many data and innovation partners, including medical technology and pharmaceutical companies.

Patient organizations, insurers, and policymakers are also involved. Through the direct involvement of all relevant parties, AI4HEALTH’s data and AI solutions are better aligned with everyday healthcare practice and with laws and regulations. Industry partners contribute expertise in developing and testing innovations. Health foundations provide financial support and safeguard societal relevance.

Furthermore, AI4HEALTH is supported by a broad group of strategic partners from healthcare, research, innovation, education, and policy. “Together, they ensure alignment with national initiatives and strengthen the impact and applicability of the program,” Carl emphasizes.

“Through this intensive collaboration across the entire chain, AI4HEALTH can not only develop and test innovations, but also truly implement and scale them in everyday healthcare,” he concludes.

Patients are getting older and increasingly have multiple health complaints at the same time, which may correspond to different conditions. There are also more and more diagnostic tests available. This generates a large amount of information that general practitioners (GPs), as the first point of contact for health concerns, must assess and combine.

Estimating the likelihood of disease and making a diagnosis is becoming increasingly complex due to all this information. GPs must process more data and make more complex decisions. This sometimes leads to repeated tests or referrals. Patients lose oversight and experience uncertainty. At the same time, this increases pressure on the healthcare system.

The solution: ‘first-time-right’

The Trinitas HORIZON project, led by Dr. Saskia Haitjema (UMC Utrecht), aims to address these challenges. The team is developing a platform that brings together all these diagnostic data and, with the help of AI, supports GPs in making diagnoses.

The goal is a “first-time-right” diagnosis: choosing the right direction immediately. This results in fewer unnecessary follow-up tests and referrals, and faster, clearer answers for patients.

“Together, we support GPs in answering key diagnostic questions: should someone be referred to the hospital—and when not? And are we not missing a rare disease?” Saskia says. “This ensures that patients follow the right diagnostic pathway more quickly and receive the right treatment sooner.”

Technology tailored to primary care

The platform is specifically designed for general practice. In this setting, complaints are often still vague and require a broad perspective from the GP. That is why Trinitas HORIZON uses a different type of AI than in hospitals. The technology can handle uncertainty, multiple data sources, and the process of diagnostic reasoning.

Unique collaboration

Trinitas HORIZON is supported by all Dutch university medical centers and their departments of General Practice. Together, they form a strong national network of academic expertise, directly connected to everyday practice of GPs. Importantly, the three major General Practice organizations—LHV, NHG, and Ineen—also support the research program.

GPs, specialists, researchers, and data experts collaborate with universities, technology partners, and experts from the social and legal sciences. Hospitals, primary care organizations, and patient organizations are also involved from the start. This allows innovations to be developed and tested directly in practice.

Through this collaboration across the entire chain, the research team works on solutions that are not only innovative, but also directly applicable in practice. “Together, we bring smarter support for GPs facing increasingly complex diagnostic questions into practice,” Saskia concludes.

The Utrecht AI strategy — 3AI

That both projects are led by UMC Utrecht is no coincidence. Since 2015, UMC Utrecht has been working on an integrated approach to data and AI across Dutch healthcare—first in the Applied Data Analytics in Medicine (ADAM) program, and later in the 3AI program. Saskia Haitjema and Carl Moons play key roles in this. With this program, UMC Utrecht brings together three pillars: a strong data infrastructure, research and development of AI, and its actual implementation and scaling in everyday healthcare practice. The awarding of AI4HEALTH and Trinitas HORIZON is the result of this long-term strategy—and further strengthens it.

About the NWO-KIC funding 

These projects are co-funded within the KIC Strategy program line of NWO. Through this program, NWO supports ten-year public-private collaborations that address major societal challenges. Consortia define their own research themes, as long as they align with the Knowledge and Innovation Agendas of the Dutch government.

Back to top