While new uses for AI and other digital technologies seem to be popping up almost daily across the healthcare landscape, some stakeholders are joining together to think more strategically about technology’s potential for impacting entire sectors.
For example, the American College of Cardiology (ACC) and GE Healthcare recently announced a partnership via the ACC's Applied Health Innovation Consortium focused on building a roadmap for AI and digital technology in cardiology that will bring together academic, clinical, industry and technology partners and patient advocates.
"We are excited to have GE Healthcare join forces with the Applied Health Innovation Consortium," said John Rumsfeld, MD, ACC Chief Innovation Officer and Chief Science & Quality Officer, at the time of the announcement. "In our mission to transform cardiovascular care and improve heart health, GE Healthcare is a great collaborator to help build a roadmap for AI and digital technology that bridges gaps in clinical care."
According to the two organizations, the consortium aims to develop AI models and put research results to practice through implementation in clinical workflows, and it will begin by addressing atrial fibrillation management, along with coronary artery disease, valvular heart disease and heart failure. It also intends to identify priorities and make progress in specific ways to impact care – particularly around AI-driven services, such as image interpretation, risk prediction and decision support.
GE Healthcare's Edison platform constitutes the technological basis for the company's AI offerings that are an integral part of its advanced cardiac technology used by clinicians in the diagnosis and treatment of more than 145 million hearts each year.
"We are eager to help shape the heart care pathway – from early detection to treatment to follow-up at home – by combining our expertise in AI and digital technologies with top clinical leadership to advance risk prediction and decision-making support," said Eigil Samset, Chief Technology Scientist for Cardiology Solutions at GE Healthcare. "Ultimately, this will enable precision health, which is doing the right thing, at the right time for every patient, at scale – with the ultimate goal to provide better outcomes, delivered to more people, more cost efficiently."
According to the ACC, their thought leadership, the clinical depth of the Consortium's academic and technology partners and the product development muscle of GE Healthcare is expected to constitute a “virtuous circle” for, among other things, “putting research results to practice through implementation in disruptive clinical workflows.”
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