aiqbench analysis
MedMCP-Calc introduces a critical new benchmark evaluating large language models on realistic medical workflows involving Model Context Protocol (MCP), moving beyond static single-step calculations to multi-stage tasks requiring EHR data retrieval. The study reveals significant gaps in current top-tier models, particularly their inability to handle fuzzy queries and iterative SQL interactions without external tool augmentation. This research highlights the necessity for specialized fine-tuning and scenario planning before LLMs can be reliably deployed in quantitative clinical decision-making environments.
MedMCP-Calc: Benchmarking LLMs for Realistic Medical Calculator Scenarios via MCP Integration
arXiv:2601.23049v2 Announce Type: replace Abstract: Medical calculators are fundamental to quantitative, evidence-based clinical practice. However, their real-world use is an adaptive, multi-stage process, requiring proactive EHR data acquisition, scenario-dependent calculator selection, and multi-step computation, whereas current benchmarks focus only on static single-step calculations with explicit instructions. To address these limitations, we introduce MedMCP-Calc, the first benchmark for evaluating LLMs in realistic medical calculator scenarios through Model Context Protocol (MCP) integration. MedMCP-Calc comprises 118 scenario tasks across 4 clinical domains, featuring fuzzy task descriptions mimicking natural queries, structured EHR database interaction, external reference retrieval, and process-level evaluation. Our evaluation of 23 leading models reveals critical limitations: even top performers like Claude Opus 4.5 exhibit substantial gaps, including difficulty selecting appropriate calculators for end-to-end workflows given fuzzy queries, poor performance in iterative SQL-based database interactions, and marked reluctance to leverage external tools for numerical computation. Performance also varies considerably across clinical domains. Building on these findings, we develop CalcMate, a fine-tuned model incorporating scenario planning and tool augmentation, achieving state-of-the-art performance among open-source models. Benchmark and Codes are available in https://github.com/SPIRAL-MED/MedMCP-Calc.
Abstract:Medical calculators are fundamental to quantitative, evidence-based clinical practice. However, their real-world use is an adaptive, multi-stage process, requiring proactive EHR data acquisition, scenario-dependent calculator selection, and multi-step computation, whereas current benchmarks focus only on static single-step calculations with explicit instructions. To address these limitations, we introduce MedMCP-Calc, the first benchmark for evaluating LLMs in realistic medical calculator scenarios through Model Context Protocol (MCP) integration. MedMCP-Calc comprises 118 scenario tasks across 4 clinical domains, featuring fuzzy task descriptions mimicking natural queries, structured EHR database interaction, external reference retrieval, and process-level evaluation. Our evaluation of 23 leading models reveals critical limitations: even top performers like Claude Opus 4.5 exhibit substantial gaps, including difficulty selecting appropriate calculators for end-to-end workflows given fuzzy queries, poor performance in iterative SQL-based database interactions, and marked reluctance to leverage external tools for numerical computation. Performance also varies considerably across clinical domains. Building on these findings, we develop CalcMate, a fine-tuned model incorporating scenario planning and tool augmentation, achieving state-of-the-art performance among open-source models. Benchmark and Codes are available in this https URL.
Artificial Intelligence (cs.AI)
arXiv:2601.23049 [cs.AI]
(or arXiv:2601.23049v2 [cs.AI] for this version)
https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.2601.23049 Focus to learn more arXiv-issued DOI via DataCite
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