Microsoft unveiled new artificial intelligence and healthcare data tools, such as a library of medical imaging models, a healthcare agent service, and an automated nursing documentation system.
With administrative duties being a key contributor to industry fatigue, the tools are designed to assist healthcare organisations in constructing AI applications more quickly and free up clinician time. A study from the Office of the Surgeon General states that up to 41% of a nurse's time is spent on paperwork.
The new tools are the most recent manifestation of Microsoft's endeavours to become a pioneer in AI for healthcare. The business launched a number of health-related capabilities for its Fabric analytics platform and Azure cloud last October. In a $16 billion deal in 2021, it also purchased Nuance Communications, a company that provides speech-to-text AI solutions for the healthcare industry and other areas.
Preview versions of several of the solutions Microsoft unveiled on Thursday are still in the early phases of development. Before the business expands their use, healthcare institutions will test and certify them. Microsoft refused to disclose the price of these new tools.
Since clinicians frequently use pictures for assistance in patient treatment, imaging exams are performed during around 80% of hospital and health system visits.
Microsoft is releasing a set of free and open-source multimodal AI models that are capable of analysing more than just text data—such as genetic, medical picture, and clinical record data. The models may be used by healthcare organisations to create new tools and apps.
Microsoft also unveiled a fresh approach to creating AI agents for health systems.
Although AI agents differ in complexity, they may assist users with particular tasks, process automation, and question answering.
These organisations are able to develop agents with security features unique to the healthcare industry by using Microsoft Copilot Studio. A notation identifies if an answer is artificial intelligence (AI)-generated and the source is displayed when an answer refers to clinical evidence, for example. According to Microsoft, fabrications and omissions are also marked.
An AI agent might be developed by a healthcare organisation, for instance, to assist physicians in finding appropriate clinical trials for a patient. According to Microsoft, a doctor may enter in "What clinical trials for a male 55-year-old with diabetes and interstitial lung disease?" to get relevant information. and get a rundown of possible choices. The doctor wouldn't have to waste time looking for every experiment.
To create it, Microsoft is collaborating with institutions such as Tampa General Hospital, Northwestern Medicine, and Stanford Health Care.
(Sources: cnbc.com)
