Investment in artificial intelligence (AI) systems for healthcare in Russia totaled 4.7 billion roubles ($53 million) between 2018 and 2024, with state funding accounting for 69% of the total, or 3.3 billion roubles, according to a study published in the article “The introduction of AI technologies in healthcare in Russia: results of 2024”, published in the Natsionalnoye Zdravookhraneniye journal. One of the authors of the study is the Minister of Health Mikhail Murashko, Vedomosti notes.
The largest investor in medical AI turned out to be the Moscow government. In 2020-2024, the city allocated 1.8 billion rubles for an experiment on computer vision. The volume of private investments in investment funds and development institutions (not named in the article) was estimated at 1.3 billion rubles.
The authors claim that most of the funds — 1 billion rubles, or 21.5% of investments over 7 years — were allocated for market development in 2023. Last year, the volume of investments decreased to 783 million rubles.
By the beginning of 2025, 84 out of 89 Russian regions had started the introduction of AI-powered medical devices. AI is most often used in healthcare to analyze medical images such as X-rays, computer and magnetic resonance imaging results, etc.
The introduction of AI in health services funded by the compulsory medical insurance system began with the interpretation of mammography in Moscow, the publication says. In 2023-2024, the number of Moscow residents who used this service reached 654,700. Each image was double-checked: the first analysis was performed by the AI service, and the second by a human radiologist. At a tariff of 239 roubles, the total funding for AI-assisted mammography interpretation reached 156.5 million roubles over the two-year period. Starting in 2025, the federal Compulsory medical Insurance Fund has also funded the use of AI for chest X-rays, CT scans, and fluorography. Starting next year, AI will be used to interpret ECG and colonoscopy results.
The vast majority of registered and implemented medical products with AI technologies use computer vision technology rather than large language models, according to Anna Meshcheryakova, director of the Third Opinion Platform. It is considered a priority in the development of AI projects for the analysis of medical images not only in Russia, but also around the world, the expert said. “Large language models are only just beginning to enter the healthcare market, and it is too early to talk about safe scenarios for their use,” the expert emphasized.