Using the strength of the cloud and artificial intelligence, Microsoft has recently announced some new projects to add value to the global healthcare sector. Many related announcements have been made prior to HiMSS, the annual health conference held in Las Vegas this year.
The software giant is looking to provide new technology to the healthcare industry, allowing clinicians to use “intelligent health” tools to improve interoperability and providing more free time for workers in the healthcare sector to spend caring for their patients.
A key announcement is the introduction of new collaboration tools for healthcare practitioners within Microsoft 365 and a new AI-powered clinical platform which developed together with staff from the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (UPMC). This platform, called Project EmpowerMD, uses AI algorithms, the company’s natural language and speech-to-text engines for recording human speech. The listening and transcribing of the interactions between medical staff and patients allows efficient hands-free notetaking during a medical appointment.
According to the company’s corporate vice president of AI Research, Peter Lee, healthcare providers spend much of their valuable time dealing with disruption from IT systems, whereas they hope to use this time and attention to care for their patients. Lee also explained that AI and cloud-based healthcare systems will facilitate the unlocking of biological insight. An increased access to better healthcare, reduced costs, and improved results is also possible from a truly personal understanding of the health conditions of every patient.
According to the Microsoft team responsible for EmpowerMD, the company aims to come up with a learning system complete with data from medical records and devices, population health, genomics and more.
Apart from the AI-based clinical platform, Microsoft is also working on expanding its AI Network for Healthcare in collaboration with Apollo Hospitals in India. This project aims at developing new AI models, which can help to lower the risk of cardiovascular disease. The technology giant also disclosed recent integrations with Intuitive Surgical and TeraRecon to develop a project called InnerEye – a medical imaging project also powered by AI.
Other Microsoft teams are also working on making the company’s certified security and compliance blueprint for Microsoft Azure - HIPAA/HITRUST - more available to medical staff, hence providing users with a safer way for them to enter medical data into cloud. Furthermore, the company has also recently made Microsoft Genomics generally available to medical staff.
Although Microsoft is investing heavily in bringing the benefits of AI to the healthcare industry, the company is also working on developing technology of mixed reality for the healthcare sector. Imperial College Healthcare NHS surgeons are now applying such tools to study a patient’s body before an operation is carried out, which increases the efficiency and safety of the medical procedures.
Call the WM Reply customer service team today to get some fresh inspiration on how Microsoft’s new innovations could be applied to your business. A friendly team member will be happy to share valuable advice on which products are best suited for the daily operation and growth of your organisations.