Some big names in artificial intelligence have announced new healthcare partnerships, funding and implementations recently, across an array of clinical use cases. Here’s a sampling.
AI to improve cardiac MRIs
Amsterdam-based Royal Philips and Mayo Clinic physicians will investigate using AI to shorten complex cardiac magnetic resonance imaging exams and improve radiology workflows, the company announced Tuesday.
Ischemic heart disease is the world’s leading cause of mortality, accounting for 13% of all deaths globally, and access to high-quality MRI services is often limited, Philips said.
Applying a combination of the company’s magnet technology and Mayo Clinic’s proprietary AI technologies, they hope to increase access and improve patient experiences during complex cardiac MRI exams – which can take more than an hour to complete.
“From the patient perspective, MRI scans can be stressful,” Ioannis Panagiotelis, business leader of MRI at Philips, said in a statement.
“By applying AI at every stage of a cardiac MRI exam, we intend to expand access and greatly improve the patient experience, increase departmental efficiency and deliver the detailed diagnostic information needed for optimal patient outcome,” he said.
New funding for gynecological AI
After signing an exclusive licensing agreement with Boston-based Dana-Farber Cancer Institute use biomarkers to develop a noninvasive, easy, fast and affordable ovarian cancer diagnostic last year, Aspira Women’s Health succeeded in becoming one of 23 awardees of the Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health Sprint for Women’s Health in October for another noninvasive gynecological screening tool.
The company, a developer of bio-analytical-based gynecologic disease diagnostics, announced this week that it received a $2 million cash payment from ARPA-H to develop its AI-driven multi-marker blood test for detecting endometriosis, which can affect an estimated 5%-10% of women and adolescents of reproductive age and up to 50% of women who are infertile.
Aspira proposes to use an algorithm that combines protein and microRNA biomarkers and patient data and leverages technology that the company pioneered for its ovarian cancer risk assessment blood tests, it said in a statement.
“We are thrilled to announce that we have successfully achieved the first milestone,” Nicole Sandford, Aspira’s CEO, said in a statement.
Through the ARPA-H program, Aspira could receive up to $10 million in funding over two years with the intent that the company will launch its product commercially at the end of its contract. Aspira is expected to complete the second milestone in the first quarter of 2025 and will be entitled to receive the next $1.5 million cash payment.
AWS has also provided credits to help four of ARPA-H’s women’s health 2024 awardees, including Aspira, the tech giant said Tuesday.
“Aspira Women’s Health is a leader in the application of machine learning to in vitro diagnostics and we are excited to be provided access to the comprehensive services and tools provided by AWS,” Dr. Todd Pappas, the company’s vice president of research and development said in an AWS blog post.
“We believe these will expand our toolbox for developing and managing machine learning models and free up our data scientists to focus on maximizing the performance of our algorithms.”
More providers add genAI
While ambient AI doesn’t necessarily improve an organization’s overall clinical efficiency, new companies, health systems, specialty providers and private practices are extending generative AI tools to clinical users.
The nonprofit, Michigan-based Corewell Health said Thursday that it partnered with Abridge on enterprise-wide clinical documentation. With a three-month pilot completed, Corewell is rolling out the platform to 4,000 physicians and advanced practice providers across its 21 hospitals and more than 300 outpatient and post-acute locations.
According to Abridge, 90% of Corewel’s clinicians who used the AI documentation platform during the pilot reported a significant increase in the undivided attention they could give patients and reported spending 48% less time on after-hours documentation. The health system’s pilot testers decreased “Pajama Time” from 4.3 hours to 2.2 hours on average, the company said.
That’s paying work/life balance dividends for Kristin Jacob, Corewell Health’s medical director for physician and APP wellbeing. She said in a statement that with documentation AI, she’s gained back time with patients and family.
“As a practicing physician, I’ve experienced firsthand the emotional and mental tolls of the burden of clinical documentation.”
To alleviate nurses’ administrative burdens and improve experiences, Brentwood, Tennessee-based MetaPhy Health, a chronic care-management provider, is partnering with ActiumHealth to give them access to conversational generative AI agents.
MetaPhy’s staff will have access to AI agents for calls, outreach and insights that can help improve patient engagement “by delivering consistent, empathetic and brand-aligned communication,” Adam Silverman, ActiumHealth chief medical officer, said in a statement Tuesday.
Late last month, Veradigm, a healthcare data and technology vendor, launched an AI-enabled ambient scribe tool powered by AvodahMed that uses genAI to automate real-time patient-provider interactions and draft structured medical notes in electronic health records.
Dr. Kent Wright, medical director and chief clinical integration officer at State of Franklin Healthcare Associates in Johnson City, Tenn., said he has been waiting for the tool for a decade.
“It’s reducing our documentation time, and allows physicians to get back to the core of medicine, which is providing quality patient care,” he said.
Andrea Fox is senior editor of Healthcare IT News.
Email: [email protected]
Healthcare IT News is a HIMSS Media publication.
Source : Healthcare IT News