Healthcare artificial intelligence (AI) is advancing in Southeast Asia, particularly in countries like Vietnam and Indonesia. Experts believe fundamental factors in technology’s growth will be governance – of both the quality of evidence and data used in AI-enabled solutions and the trustworthiness and consistency of the technology itself.
The right solution is key to digitalization strategy
At Mandaya Royal Hospital Puri (MRHP) in Banten, Indonesia, digital technologies have been embedded into clinical and operational workflows since day one.
Established in 2021, the private hospital has always prioritized and invested in advanced technology – alongside highly trained healthcare providers – to enhance patient care and operational efficiency. These investments have included a strong focus on responsible use of AI-driven workflows, including continuous patient monitoring with AI-enabled early warning scoring, robotic surgery system with AI-powered precision, and deep learning in medical image enhancements.
In 2026, the hospital marked another technological milestone by becoming the first in Indonesia – and in the Southeast Asia region – to adopt UpToDate® clinical decision support (CDS) with UpToDate® Expert AI, a generative AI-powered layer on top of the rigorously reviewed UpToDate clinical interpretations trusted by 3 million healthcare professionals worldwide.
UpToDate Expert AI allows clinicians to access UpToDate’s evidence-based clinical database swiftly at the point of care. Clinicians can input natural language prompts and receive context-rich responses to each question through a conversational experience. This speed to answer and intuitive user experience helps clinicians enhance the quality of care.
Prioritizing trust in healthcare AI over ‘shadow AI’ tools
For Benedict Sulaiman, Director of IT and Chief Technology Officer of Mandaya Hospital Group, adopting generative AI (GenAI) had long been part of the organization’s digital roadmap – recognizing AI as the way forward for healthcare and its potential to help professionals improve care quality and patient outcomes.
Even before the introduction of UpToDate Expert AI, many clinicians were already using publicly accessible GenAI platforms such as Gemini or ChatGPT for answers to clinical questions. While these tools demonstrated the potential of AI, they are not built for healthcare specifically and were not approved by MRHP. This is known as “shadow AI” – using open-sourced or unapproved tools – and it can come with the risk of AI hallucinations and bias.
The challenge for healthcare organizations lies in ensuring that the information their clinicians rely on is transparent, responsible, and grounded in trusted medical evidence.
“Our first and foremost concern is whether information from these platforms is reliable,” Sulaiman says. “These platforms come with the risk of errors and hallucinations. In contrast, a dedicated clinical repository like UpToDate Expert AI ensures our clinicians access only expert-vetted information that has met strict governance standards.”
Criteria for evaluating CDS tools and testing AI results
For MHRP, the evaluation of CDS systems was a rigorous process, given that patient outcomes were directly at stake.
The hospital appointed several clinicians with assessing each system using test patient cases. Besides looking at the clinical relevance and appropriateness of answers, the clinicians also examined how comprehensively the system addressed the case, including whether the responses:
- Adequately and appropriately summarized the patient’s medical background.
- Identified potential issues to look out for.
- Proposed appropriate care plans.
- Suggested relevant follow-up questions.
Equally important was how the information was presented. Responses needed to be structured, concise, and easy to interpret.
Another key evaluation criterion was transparency. Clinicians want to understand the reasoning behind the solution’s recommendations and have easy access to the evidence supporting it, so they may independently verify the information before applying it in patient care.
UpToDate Expert AI has met these requirements, Sulaiman says. “Once doctors begin using the Expert AI version of UpToDate, I don’t think they will want to go back to the regular version of UpToDate.”
CDS as a support tool – rather than replacement – for clinicians
While AI continues to reshape healthcare delivery, Sulaiman emphasized that this technology should support and complement clinical judgment, rather than replace it.
“Clinicians are human, and humans are bound to make mistakes,” he says. “If technologies such as AI-powered clinical decision support can help reduce the risk of error and improve the quality of care, then we should embrace that opportunity.”
By rapidly synthesizing complex information and surfacing the latest evidence, CDS systems help clinicians make fast, informed decisions to help improve patient outcomes. But ultimately, the final decisions around diagnosis, treatment, and care plans remain firmly with the clinicians.
Dr. Benedictus Reinaldo Widaja, MBChB(UK), President Director of Mandaya Hospital Group, stresses this point: “The future of healthcare is not about choosing between physicians and AI — it’s about empowering physicians with AI. At Mandaya, UpToDate Expert AI enhances our clinical decision support system, helping our doctors prepare evidence-based care plans with greater speed, precision, and confidence.”
Learn more about UpToDate clinical decision support solutions for global health systems.