Intelligent information access systems integrate text mining and content analysis capabilities as a relevant element in an increasing way. In this paper we present our work focused on the integration of text categorization and summarization to improve information access on a specific medical domain, patient clinical records and related scientific documentation, in the framework of two different research projects: SINAMED and ISIS, developed by a consortium of two research groups from two universities, one hospital and one software development firm. SINAMED has a basic research orientation and its goal is to design new text categorization and summarization algorithms based on the utilization of lexical resources in the biomedical domain. ISIS is a R&D project with a more applied and technology-transfer orientation, focused on more direct practical aspects of the utilization in a concrete public health institution.