Moffitt to incorporate AI, machine learning into fighting cancer

Fighting cancer isn't just complex scientifically.

It's complex in the business administration, the coding and the production of reams of documentation.

So Moffitt Cancer Center in Tampa says it will work with NVIDIA, Oracle and a Deloitte subsidiary on an initiative aimed at "revolutionizing cancer care delivery through advanced artificial intelligence and machine learning technologies."

The first step of the effort involves fine-tuning a large language model using approximately 100,000 inpatient clinical notes from Moffitt, the center says in a Tuesday news release. That process will address key operational challenges such as optimizing billing-coding processes related to cancer and comorbidity.

The center says these processes are often complicated and "pain points" for cancer center operations.

The application will use Moffitt's private Oracle Cloud Infrastructure AI and NVIDIA NeMo. Deloitte Consulting, a Deloitte subsidiary, will work with Moffitt on model training and overall project implementation.

Moffitt seeks more accurate clinical documentation specific to conditions other than cancer that may impact cancer care.

The information will ultimately be used to improve clinical quality, automate medical coding, match patients to clinical trials and conduct downstream cancer research, Moffitt officials say. The collaboration "represents a significant step forward in our mission to provide our patients with the highest quality cancer care," the center says.

"By leveraging artificial intelligence and machine learning technologies, we can unlock new insights, streamline workflows and ultimately improve patient outcomes," says Dana Rollison, Moffitt vice president, chief data officer and associate center director of data science, in the release. 

Moffitt says the project marks an important milestone in the application of large language models to health care delivery, enabling the center to improve complex, resource-intensive tasks that are "ubiquitous pain points" for hospitals and health systems.

Tackling the challenge requires a diverse group of technicians, clinicians and thought leaders in health care delivery — it takes a village, Moffitt officials say.

Moffitt of Tampa is a nonprofit dedicated to prevention and cure of cancer. The Tampa-based facility is one of only 56 National Cancer Institute-designated Comprehensive Cancer Centers. It has more than 9,000 team members.