In traditional news in brief style, let’s take a look at some of the latest stories to have caught our eye over at HTN International on global health tech.
Interview: Inderpal Kohli, VP and chief information officer at Englewood Hospital, New Jersey
For our latest HTN.International interview, we caught up with Inderpal Kohli, vice president and chief information officer at Englewood Hospital, New Jersey, to hear his insights on digital transformation, projects, priorities and challenges in the digital health space.
Inderpal shared some of the major digital projects that have been undertaken at Englewood Health during his time as VP and CIO, including patient engagement and self-serve opportunities, such as the expansion of electronic medical records, imaging solutions, and medical device technology.
Inderpal also shared his aims to promote “a merging of analog and digital care,” creating a consistent experience between virtual and in-person interactions with patients.
“Remote patient monitoring is a programme that we are expanding – we want to help you when you are not physically at one of our locations with technology-enabled care management outside of our four walls. We need to be nimble enough, and our execution needs to be nimble enough to roll in some of those digital initiatives. So far, our work in this area has supported this and allowed us to start working on including exciting initiatives like generative AI into our strategy.”
The Ottawa Hospital in Canada pilots Microsoft AI solution for clinical note taking
In Canada, The Ottawa Hospital has announced that it is piloting a Microsoft solution that uses AI to draft clinical notes for clinicians during patient appointments, with hopes that the solution may assist in saving up to 10 hours per week of clinician time.
The DAX Copilot solution harnesses ambient, conversational and generative AI to record clinician’s conversations with patients, before converting them into medical notes that the clinician can review prior to their submission into TOH’s Epic EHR system.
Taiwanese hospital receives two HIMSS digital maturity validations
Chang Gung Memorial Hospital in Taiwan has recently been revalidated for Stage 7 of the HIMSS Electronic Medical Record Adoption Model, as well as receiving validation for Stage 6 of the HIMSS Infrastructure Adoption Model.
Evaluators noted “impressive” demonstrations within the hospital’s operational, business and advanced analytics, and senior executives received commendation for “being immersed in understanding and implementing organisational policies with robust governance, good lines of communication and strong understanding of ground practices”.
Andrew Pearce, VP analytics and global advisory lead of HIMSS, commented on a feature of the hospital’s electronic medication administration record as an “excellent innovation that aptly demonstrated how even minor features, predicated on a deep understanding of clinical flows and pathways can help to improve quality and safety outcomes for patients”.
International open accelerator launches for women’s health and femtech start-ups
An international accelerator programme for start-ups focusing on the femtech sector has been launched by Italy-headquartered Zambon through their research venture Zcube, with five start-ups to receive an investment of €100,000.
Applications are encouraged for the development of products and services to address “major medical needs” and improve women’s health and wellbeing, with targeted areas including gynaecology, endocrinology, mental health, reproductive health, and more.
Giovanni Magnaghi, president of Zcube and chief financial officer of Zambon, comments that the company is “excited to discover which companies can bring innovative solutions to change the Life Sciences and women’s health sector. The choice to dedicate the 2024 edition to the femtech sector is deliberate: working in unexplored areas can contribute to creating benefits for the global economy. As highlighted by recent studies, bridging this gender gap is essential.”
California-based Augmedix makes AI documentation solution available across EDs
California-based Augmedix, provider of ambient AI medical documentation & data services, has announced that its solution Augmedix Go is to become generally available for emergency departments, following the completion of a pilot programme with HCA Healthcare.
Augmedix Go enables clinicians to engage with patients in a hands-free environment by pairing the mobile app with a bluetooth mic to “seamlessly capture patient conversations”. Large language models are then utilised across different specialties and sections of the note in order to deliver “high quality medical documentation”, with Augmedix highlighting the use of both “proprietary fine-tuned large language models and industry-leading foundational LLMs, including Google Cloud’s MedLM’s suite of medically-tuned models”.
Collab offers boost to Algerian health tech startups
The Algerian Press Service has announced a collaboration between public startup accelerator Algeria Venture and Roche, a Swiss company specialising in diagnosis and biotechnology, to help boost Algerian startups in health and medical technology.
The two parties signed a memorandum of agreement to offer support for startups by providing them with specialised resources, expertise, and networking opportunities, to help accelerate the adoption of innovative solutions for health and care in the country.
New Da Vinci XI robot set to bring robotic surgeries to Royal Adelaide Hospital
In Australia, the introduction of a new Da Vinci XI robotic surgery system at the Royal Adelaide Hospital is hoped to provide access for patients to “minimally invasive procedures” such as “complex head and neck operations” and colorectal surgery.
$7 million is being contributed by the state government to operate the technology at the Royal Adelaide Hospital, topped up by an investment of $5.1 million from the Health Services Charitable Gifts Board.
The Central Adelaide Local Health Network’s (CALHN) medical lead for surgery, Peter Subramaniam, highlighted the “decreased complications, faster recovery, reduced length of stay in hospital, and faster return to normal day activities” offered by robotic-assisted surgery, adding:
“Through this implementation, CALHN continues its journey of developing a Centre of Excellence in robotic surgery, clinical innovation and research in cancer and surgery fields, attracting innovative and highly competent robotic surgeons and most promising trainee surgeons.”
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