Anthropic, a major artificial intelligence company, has launched a new set of tools called Claude for Healthcare that lets users securely connect their medical records to its AI chatbot and get useful health information. This step shows how artificial intelligence is becoming more involved in the healthcare field.
Claude is best known as a smart language model that can answer questions and help users perform different types of tasks. Before this, most of its use was in general areas like writing help, coding, and business support. With Claude for Healthcare, Anthropic wants to make the AI useful for everyday medical questions. Users in the United States who subscribe to Claude Pro or Max plans can now choose to link their health data from services like HealthEx, Function Health, and soon Apple Health and Android Health Connect.
The goal of this new feature is to help people better understand their medical information. For many patients, health records are collected at different clinics and hospitals, which makes it hard to see the full picture of their health. After users link their records, Claude can summarize lab results, explain what common tests mean, and help patients prepare questions before seeing their doctor. This is meant to make medical conversations easier and more productive.
One technology that makes this work is the Model Context Protocol (MCP), an open standard that lets Claude connect securely to external data sources without storing or training on the full record. Instead of importing a person’s complete medical history, Claude finds only the data it needs to answer specific questions. Users stay in control and can change or remove access whenever they want.
Anthropic explains that privacy and security are very important in this feature. The company says that health data shared with Claude will not be used to train future models and will not be stored in the AI’s memory. The aim is to follow strict privacy laws like HIPAA in the United States, which protect personal health information.

While Claude for Healthcare is designed for everyday users, Anthropic is also helping hospitals, insurance companies, and drug manufacturers. These organizations often face heavy administrative work, like reviewing insurance claims, managing patient care, or creating reports for medical studies. By connecting with databases like Medicare & Medicaid Services and PubMed, Claude makes these tasks faster and easier for healthcare professionals.

This launch comes at a time of rising competition in the AI healthcare space. Just days earlier, OpenAI introduced ChatGPT Health, another AI tool designed to safely work with medical records and personal health data. Both companies are working to balance new features with strong privacy protections and clear safety warnings.
Even with these improvements, experts warn that AI tools are not perfect. Almost all major AI systems, including Claude and ChatGPT, can make mistakes or produce inaccurate information, and neither is meant to replace doctors. In fact, Anthropic’s policies clearly says that information provided by Claude that could affect critical medical decisions should be reviewed by a qualified professional before being used.
The launch of Claude for Healthcare marks an important milestone in how generative AI tools are built for real-world medical use. It reflects growing demand from both patients and professionals for technology that can summarize complex data in understandable language and can help with time-consuming administrative tasks. At the same time, it highlights ongoing debates about privacy, accuracy, and the role that AI should play in sensitive areas like health.
Overall, Anthropic’s new feature is designed to give individuals and healthcare workers better access to medical information while keeping privacy at the forefront. As AI continues to develop, tools like Claude for Healthcare may help millions of people navigate their health in ways that were not possible before.