Foundation Model for Advancing Healthcare: Challenges, Opportunities and Future Directions

Foundation model, trained on a diverse range of data and adaptable to a myriad of tasks, is advancing healthcare. It fosters the development of healthcare artificial intelligence (AI) models tailored to the intricacies of the medical field, bridging the gap between limited AI models and the varied nature of healthcare practices. The advancement of a healthcare foundation model (HFM) brings forth tremendous potential to augment intelligent healthcare services across a broad spectrum of scenarios. However, despite the imminent widespread deployment of HFMs, there is currently a lack of clear understanding regarding their operation in the healthcare field, their existing challenges, and their future trajectory. To answer these critical inquiries, we present a comprehensive and in-depth examination that delves into the landscape of HFMs. It begins with a comprehensive overview of HFMs, encompassing their methods, data, and applications, to provide a quick understanding of the current progress. Subsequently, it delves into a thorough exploration of the challenges associated with data, algorithms, and computing infrastructures in constructing and widely applying foundation models in healthcare. Furthermore, this survey identifies promising directions for future development in this field. We believe that this survey will enhance the community's understanding of the current progress of HFMs and serve as a valuable source of guidance for future advancements in this domain.