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During its annual Check Up event on Tuesday, Google announced enhancements to its AI tools for healthcare, including expanded patient search tools, clinical training, and consumer health platforms, including Fitbit.
"One of the most exciting things about this moment is that healthcare is at the forefront of the AI movement," Dr. Michael Howell, chief health officer at Google, said during the event. "It's no longer just about the future. It's about right now."
Howell said the event would focus on three aspects: finding answers when you need them, supporting clinicians and fueling the cures of the future.
Howell said Search, Gemini and YouTube are helping individuals find answers to healthcare questions using AI Mode, which can navigate complex health questions.
According to Hema Budaraju, VP of product management at Google Search (AI & Core Quality), Google receives more than 1 billion health-related questions a day, with many users turning to features like AI Mode for conversational responses.
"Built for intelligence and speed, Gemini 3 brings incredible reasoning, tools and multimodal capabilities to tackle your most complicated health questions," Budaraju said.
She said a user can upload their lab report into AI Mode in Search to understand the test results. Search can then generate follow-up questions that the user can bring to their doctor.
The company also said it is working to support clinicians in rural areas.
"To address this gap, we're exploring work with leaders in Arkansas, including the Alice Walton School of Medicine and the Heartland Whole Health Institute, to help pioneer a model for rural health transformation," Howell said.
The partners will focus on clinician education, care delivery and health research using AI initiatives that aim to improve care access and health outcomes.
The company is announcing that it is focusing on clinician learning and training and committing $10 million to fund organizations that will collaborate to "reimagine clinical education in the AI era."
Howell said that the Council of Medical Specialty Societies and the American Academy of Nursing are the first organizations to support the initiative.
Additionally, Google announced enhancements to its Fitbit offering, including updates to its Personal Health Coach.
Rishi Chandra, VP/GM for Health and Home at Google, said the company has enhanced its sleep stage tracking by 15%, allowing for the platform to better detect sleep interruptions and nighttime restlessness.
The improvements power Fitbit's new sleep score, Chandra said, and the offering will roll out to preview users over the next few weeks.
Starting next month, Chandra said users will also be able to connect their continuous glucose monitor through Health Connect.
In addition, starting in early April, U.S. users will be able to store and view their personal medical records within the Fitbit app and share that data with the Personal Health Coach for more "personalized health guidance."
"To get started, we make it really easy for patients to find their doctor or health system by searching for a name or address. Once you have found your provider, enter a few quick details and then simply log in to your provider's portal. After we verify your identity, your historical and future records are synced," Chandra said.
The company announced a collaboration with the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) and companies, such as Clear, b.well and Athenahealth, to verify identity.
"You first verify your identity with Clear by sharing a selfie and then taking a photo of a valid form of ID. Once verified, we can use that identity to try to locate your medical records automatically so the records come to you," Chandra said.
To enable the offering, Chandra said, requires collaboration across the healthcare ecosystem, including healthcare providers and electronic medical record companies. Chandra said Google will share more about this later this year in coordination with CMS.
Once the records are stored in the Fitbit app, users will be able to see how their medical information has changed over time and share their records with the Personal Health Coach "to talk and learn more."
Chandra said the records are stored in Fitbit, and a user controls how their data is used, shared or deleted. A user can also share their health data with Health Connect, then enable other apps to access it.
"Soon, with Health Link Sharing, you can securely share a health summary with family members or other doctors," Chandra said. "Just select what data you want to share, and we'll create a QR Code or link. Once they click the link, they get a summary of your health. You can also add the QR Code to Google Wallet for future, easy, secure sharing."
Looking ahead, Google emphasized technology's role in accelerating medical discovery and enabling future cures, with a focus on ongoing work in areas such as cancer research, diagnostics and drug development, and highlighted AI as a foundational layer.
