Five healthcare organizations from Singapore, Taiwan, and South Korea are joining HIMSS to build a shared framework for measuring what artificial intelligence actually delivers in clinical settings - and whether it's worth the cost.
HIMSS signed a memorandum of understanding with Asan Medical Center and Seoul National University Hospital in South Korea, Taichung Veterans General Hospital in Taiwan, and National University Hospital and SingHealth in Singapore during the HIMSS26 APAC Conference. The initiative, called the HIMSS AI Outcomes Framework, aims to create what HIMSS describes as the world's first longitudinal, multi-institutional system for tracking AI's impact, value, and return on investment in healthcare.
The founding members will contribute expertise on AI adoption and outcomes, help develop and validate the framework, and supply data for the project. HIMSS will govern the initiative, managing member contributions and relationships among participants.
Why measure AI outcomes
Dr Anne Snowdon, chief scientific research officer for HIMSS, said healthcare is an evidence-based field that depends on proven practices and results.
"Evidence allows opportunities for all global systems to learn about not only what AI is achieving but what is possible to achieve [with AI], and design and transform the health systems of the future," she said.
Snowdon pointed to Asia-Pacific health systems as leaders in building that knowledge base. "APAC health systems are leading in building [that] knowledge, experience and expertise," she said.
For professionals working in healthcare, the practical question is whether AI tools reduce errors, save time, or improve patient outcomes enough to justify their cost. This framework is designed to answer that question with data rather than vendor claims. Training programs like AI for Healthcare cover how to evaluate these tools in clinical environments, and AI for Medical Billers addresses the financial side of AI adoption in revenue cycle management.
Timeline and structure
HIMSS plans to formally launch the initiative at the HIMSS Global Conference in 2027, then begin measurement, data collection, analysis, and benchmarking. Peer review and publication of the framework are scheduled for 2028, followed by a global rollout.
Each participating organization will sign a separate bilateral agreement with HIMSS defining its scope of work, deliverables, and terms. HIMSS will own the intellectual property developed through the initiative. In return, participating organizations receive frameworks tailored to their AI deployments, clinical settings, and use cases, plus co-authorship on peer-reviewed journal publications resulting from the work.
Why this matters for healthcare professionals
Clinicians and administrators are being asked to adopt AI tools with limited evidence about long-term impact. This initiative creates a mechanism for comparing results across hospitals and health systems in different countries, which means decisions about AI adoption can be based on shared data instead of individual vendor pitches.
For professionals evaluating AI purchases or implementations, the framework's publications could become a reference point for what works - and what doesn't - in real clinical environments.
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