The GE Healthcare booth will be unveiled on the eve of the 2022 China International Fair for Trade in Services (CIFTIS) to be held at the National Convention Center in Beijing, China on August 28, 2022.
Yi Haifei | China News Service | Getty Images
GE Healthcare A new artificial intelligence application was announced on Monday that it says will save time for doctors who diagnose and treat cancer.
The tool, called “CareIntellect for Oncology,” will help oncologists accelerate their understanding of a patient’s medical history and disease progression by quickly showing them the data they need, the company said. GE says it wants to free oncologists from the hassle of digging through records so they can focus on caring for patients.
Healthcare data is difficult to analyze, with as much as 97% of data generated by hospitals not being used, according to one agency. Deloitte Report. This information, such as images, lab test results, clinical notes, and device readings, is stored across numerous vendors and file formats, making it laborious for physicians to organize.
“It’s very time-consuming and very frustrating for these clinicians,” Dr. Taha Kass-Hout, global chief science and technology officer for GE Healthcare, told CNBC.
Kass-Hout said CareIntellect for Oncology will be able to summarize clinical reports and identify when patients have deviated from their treatment plan. For example, the system could flag when a patient misses a lab test so their doctor can determine the best next step.
“For cancer patients, the treatment process can last for years and require multiple visits,” he said.
GE HealthCare CareIntellect for Oncology
Provided by GE Healthcare
CareIntellect for Oncology can also help identify relevant clinical trials for which patients may be eligible, saving oncologists time, said Chelsea Vane, vice president of digital products at GE HealthCare. Vane told CNBC that the process has traditionally required doctors to scroll through a library of available trials, remember inclusion and exclusion criteria, and dig into patient records to determine the appropriate regimen.
“What we do is eliminate it,” she said.
The company says the new app is designed to save oncologists time and effort, but if doctors want to drill down into more details, CareIntellect for Oncology allows them to view the original records cited.
GE HealthCare plans to make CareIntellect for Oncology widely available to U.S. customers in 2025, initially optimized for prostate and breast cancers. The company said it is already being evaluated by health organizations such as Tampa General Hospital. Kass-Hout said that because the tool is cloud-based, it will generate recurring revenue for GE HealthCare.
Kass-Hout said the company plans to launch more apps under the CareIntellect brand in the future. He added that the oncology tool is the first product and healthcare organizations will be able to easily pick and choose which applications they want to enable.
GE HealthCare also hopes to integrate its CareIntellect product with some of its other early-stage artificial intelligence initiatives it previewed on Monday.
The company highlighted five new AI products it is developing, including collaborative teams of AI agents, a tool to predict the recurrence of aggressive breast cancer, and a tool to flag suspicious mammogram scans to radiologists more quickly.
Kass-Hout said GE HealthCare decided to preview the new tool to educate customers about the problem it was trying to solve. He said the company will solicit feedback from health care organizations and work with regulators if necessary.
For example, GE HealthCare is exploring how a group of AI agents can work together as a team to support doctors through its tool called Health Companion.
Health Partners agents will be trained by experts in specific fields, such as radiology, pathology or genomics, and provide insights based on their expertise, Kass-Hout said. These agents can identify whether specific symptoms are side effects of treatment or signs of disease progression and recommend next steps, he added.
Ideally, Kass-Hout said, the tool would provide the same support doctors would expect from working as a multidisciplinary team. While consultation with a panel of experts may take days or weeks, Health Companion will be available immediately.
“Right now, this is an early concept,” he said. “Our goal is to raise the standard of care and move beyond the undue burden on clinicians trying to care for patients.”
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