BM25 and Dense Retrieval Are Complementary for Portuguese Clinical Text: An Empirical Study of Hybrid RAG Across 500 Clinical Queries
This empirical study demonstrates that for Portuguese clinical decision support, hybrid retrieval combining BM25 and dense methods significantly outperforms single-strategy approaches by leveraging their complementary strengths, while also validating automated LLM-based evaluation and deterministic citation verification to ensure accuracy and reduce hallucinations.