JULY 16, 2026
Mayo Clinic Tests AI Tools Across Clinical Settings, From Record Summaries to Cancer Detection
Mayo Clinic has deployed approximately 150 AI models within its hospital system, partnering with firms including Microsoft and Scale AI to develop tools that use its patient records and research data. One tool, called Record Time, generates patient summaries and organizes medical documents, saving physicians an estimated five to thirty minutes of preparation per visit. The hospital is also running a clinical trial to test whether AI can detect early-stage pancreatic cancer years before a typical diagnosis.
Mayo Clinic, one of the most well-known hospital systems in the world, has become a testing ground for artificial intelligence applications in clinical medicine. The hospital currently runs around 150 AI models, according to Dr. Matthew Callstrom, a radiologist and medical director of Mayo Clinic's generative AI program, with tools spanning document management, cancer screening, and visit documentation.
The Record Time tool, developed with Scale AI, addresses a specific logistical challenge: physicians like Dr. Alexander Ryu, an internal medicine doctor and vice chair of innovation for the Mayo Clinic Department of Medicine, routinely receive hundreds of pages of unsorted records from patients seeking second, third, or fourth opinions. Ryu said the tool organizes documents chronologically, generates summaries, and makes records easier to search — reducing preparation time per visit by five to thirty minutes depending on case complexity. The hospital processes tens of millions of pages of records annually, Ryu said.
Beyond administrative applications, Mayo Clinic has used AI to analyze heart rhythms and predict atrial fibrillation risk, and is currently conducting a clinical trial aimed at identifying patients with early-stage or at-risk pancreatic cancer. Callstrom said that currently, patients are often not diagnosed until the disease has spread, when the five-year survival rate is around 9%. The hospital has said the AI application could detect pancreatic cancer years earlier than current methods.