GE Healthcare, ACC Team Up to Advance AI in Cardiac Care

GE Healthcare is partnering with the American College of Cardiology (ACC) through the ACC’s Applied Health Innovation Consortium to build a roadmap for artificial intelligence (AI) and digital technology in cardiology and developing new strategies for improved health outcomes.
 
The Consortium brings together academic, clinical, industry, and technology partners and patient advocates, to collaborate in digital transformation of healthcare and achieve trust in developing clinical evidence and guidance. GE Healthcare will lend its perspective as a global medical technology and digital solutions innovator in connected cardiovascular care to this forum. GE Healthcare’s Edison platform forms the technological basis for the company’s many AI offerings that are an integral part of its advanced cardiac technology used by clinicians in the diagnosis and treatment of over 145 million hearts each year.
 
The thought leadership of the ACC, 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 from defining impactful challenges, developing AI models, and putting research results to practice through implementation in disruptive clinical workflows.
 
“We are excited to have GE Healthcare join forces with the Applied Health Innovation Consortium,” John Rumsfeld, MD, PhD, FACC, ACC Chief Innovation Officer and Chief Science & Quality Officer told the press. “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.”
 
As the world adapts to the challenges presented by self-isolation, reduction in hands-on medical care, and a variety of unknowns, three main drivers of the digital transformation that will impact care are a migration towards virtual care, increased remote monitoring of patients via wearables and telemedicine, and AI-driven care, including image interpretation, risk prediction, and improved care decision-making. The Consortium intends to be a catalyst in identifying priorities and making progress in specific and practical ways to impact clinical care.
 
“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,” says 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.”
 
The collaboration will start tackling the overwhelming challenges related to atrial fibrillation management along with other care pathways in cardiology that are top of mind, including coronary artery disease, valvular heart disease and heart failure.