Applications of cloud computing in the medical device industry  

Concept:

Canadian biotechnology startup CardiAI has launched a 24-hour ambulatory blood pressure monitoring system called BPAro. It is a point-of-care device that bridges the gap between patients' daily lives and the doctor's office and helps patients receive better care and preventative healthcare. 

Nature of disruption:

BPAro is a compact, portable, self-monitoring blood pressure device that leverages Bluetooth for wireless data collection and is stored in users’ secure cloud database. It is provided with cloud-based advanced analytics that can seamlessly integrate with existing electronic health records using HL7 connectivity. HL7 is a set of international standards used to transfer and share data between various healthcare providers. 

BPAro measures and generates a huge number of blood pressure measurements without manual work from a doctor or a patient. It can measure and automatically record patient blood pressure for up to seven days, at regular programmed intervals. The device is simple to use and easy to set up, allowing patients to engage in any daily activities, including sleeping. The BPAro app on the computer or mobile device is used to view all results stored in the user's cloud account.

The device combats high blood pressure with precise remote care and accurate diagnostics. The startup claims that it offers a complete platform that includes timely, clinically validated blood pressure monitoring, cloud-based analytics through the BPAro mobile application, an integrated electronic medical record for telemedicine consultations, and the ability to write prescriptions for patients.

Outlook:

High blood pressure is a potentially dangerous illness that can cause heart attacks, strokes, kidney failure, and eyesight loss. Accurate and long-term blood pressure metrics can help in patient diagnosis and treatment. CardiAI’s BPAro can continuously monitor blood pressure to remove uncertainty and offer precision medicine for patients. The startup claims that BPAro is clinically validated for accuracy and has received approval from the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and Health Canada. The devices are available online and the app can be downloaded from Android and iOS stores.

Concept:

Indian healthtech company Healthnet Global has introduced a smart in-patient room automation system called Automaid that helps to meet the in-patient needs via mobile and voice commands. The solution aims to enhance a patient’s stay experience, improve the operational efficiency for the hospital staff, and lower the energy consumption of the hospital.

Nature of disruption:

Automaid features an AI-based triaging system that enables the continuous and accurate monitoring of a patient’s respiratory rate, heart rate, and other clinical parameters without coming in contact with the patient. It features a contactless sensor, communication pod, and cloud-based patient monitoring tool that provides round-the-clock monitoring for patients who were previously manually monitored.   

The smart in-patient room automation solution enables patients to control electric appliances and lights using both touch and voice commands. It also includes motion sensors in the washroom for patient safety and efficient use of electricity. Bed handrail sensors allow notifications to be sent to nurses for better safety of patients.   

Automaid offers patients and attendants one-stop access to all room services including housekeeping, food and beverage (F&B), nursing, and feedback. It enables the doctors and healthcare specialists to remotely monitor a patient’s health from a centralised patient monitor. The platform enables simultaneous monitoring of hundreds of patients using the web dashboard and also from a mobile phone app.   

Healthnet Global claims that the platform enables custom alerts to be put on every patient, helping doctors optimise treatment plans, focus on critical patients, and provide improved proactive care.   

Outlook:

The focus of the healthcare industry is shifting towards value-based patient-centric remote monitoring solutions leveraging non-contact monitoring technologies. The contactless health monitoring and an AI-based early warning system can help doctors continuously monitor the health conditions of at-risk patients.   

Healthnet Global claims that the smart in-patient room automation system can enhance the patient’s stay experience at the hospital and also enables doctors to remotely monitor the vitals of the patients. It also helps in the efficient usage of energy consumption within a hospital set up as the wireless motion sensors and switch nodes can turn the devices on/off based on motion senses in the patient areas, especially bathrooms.   

Concept:

US-based company LifeVoxel.AI has unveiled an AI diagnostic visualisation platform, called Prescient, for a faster and precise prognosis. This software-as-a-service (SaaS) platform can be used for diagnostics, workflow management, and triage to help physicians and hospitals manage software and hardware technology easily. It claims that healthcare facilities can use the platform for remote diagnostics in a variety of medical specialties, such as radiology, cardiology, and orthopaedics.

Nature of disruption:

Prescient is an enterprise-grade medical imaging technology that provides 4D interactive intelligent views of medical images over the internet. It allows physicians to access, evaluate, and manipulate imaging studies in real time from any web-enabled device, effectively converting every web-enabled device into a radiology workstation. The platform stores diagnostic images and allows doctors to study them on-demand from any device, including smartphones. It also has capabilities that allow diagnostic annotations and reports to be included.   

The company claims the platform to provide unprecedented real-time, immersive 3D telepresence interaction for remote patient engagement. Also, it enables direct integration of AI diagnostic support into daily physician processes from a web-enabled device. The platform also stores diagnostic annotations and reports, which are important for the continued development of AI diagnostic applications.   

Outlook:

Medical imaging is currently confronted with several issues. Its market has severe privacy, reliability, and accuracy requirements that necessitate the highest levels of performance, precision, and quality. These issues can be solved by deploying powerful technological solutions. LifeVoxel.AI aims to solve this issue by providing complete imaging and AI platform for diagnostic imaging centres.   

The company has raised $5m in a seed round from investors including medical and radiology specialists, and strategic medical technology investors. It intends to use the funds to improve the data intelligence of the AI diagnostic visualisation platform for a faster and more precise prognosis. The National Science Foundation has awarded LifeVoxel.AI an NSF grant for its advancement and implementation of AI employing graphics processing unit for medical imaging. The platform has also received an FDA 510K certification for use in the diagnostic interpretation of medical images.   

Concept:

GE Healthcare has launched Edison True PACS, a diagnostic imaging solution based on cloud-based technologies and AI. It is a transformative system that offers AI-enabled decision support to aid the radiologist in adapting to workloads and increased exam complexity, and to improve diagnostic accuracy.

Nature of disruption:

Edison True PACS is an AI-enabled decision-making tool to enhance reading speed, reduce errors, and improve diagnostic precision. It is used in small imaging centres and community hospitals. The tool has a web-based diagnostic viewer and a zero-footprint clinical viewer that gives the ability to do the remote reading with location and time freedom. It helps in assisting their referring clinicians to provide timely, personalised, and precise care. It is deployed on AWS cloud to provide users data security and protection.   

GE Healthcare created AI algorithms for multiple diagnostic tasks that are integrated into the workflow ensuring radiologists read the correct exam at the appropriate time. The Edison True PACS combines diagnostic reading, exam workflow, AI, 3D post-processing, enterprise visualisation, and archiving all in a single platform.   

GE Healthcare claims it increases radiologist efficiency by 50% to reading certain types of exams through the incorporation of intelligent workflows and AI clinical applications. The company also estimates cloud automation, simpler data transfer, standard Health Level Seven (HL7) configuration, and default workflow configurations result in a 50% decrease in migration/implementation expenses for clients, resulting in a lower total cost of ownership for customers on cloud.   

Outlook:

GE Healthcare is a seasoned player in the healthcare devices business. The Edison True PACS is a comprehensive system that aims to support radiologists. It offers an efficient IT solution for managing diagnostic procedures. This transforms patient care by making imaging data more accessible, shareable, and secure while improving clinical and operational efficiencies. The AI-enabled software helps in speeding up decision-making and reduce clinical errors and has cloud-based technology that creates user-friendly tools.