GE Healthcare, Alliance Medical collaborate to improve patient access to diagnostics and enhance radiology productivity using data analytics and AI

Last updated Sep 30, 2022

With advanced data analytics and AI, GE Healthcare and Alliance Medical aim to improve outcomes, access and healthcare delivery for patients
The goal is to enable the best possible patient care by making data available to healthcare staff to make quick and accurate decisions for patients
Patients are set to benefit through rapid access and improved outcomes

GE Healthcare has signed an agreement with Alliance Medical to create a digital solution with the aim to enhance productivity within hospital radiology departments in the UK. Using advanced data analytics and AI, the companies will bring together tools to streamline daily management and enable proactive problem-solving to help prevent issues for staff and their patients.

Under constant pressure, radiology departments are struggling to manage high-patient volumes, disrupted schedules and inconsistent processes. The result is staff burnout, a lack of standardisation, and an impact on patient access to diagnostics.

To address these problems and enable radiology departments to thrive, Alliance Medical – a leading provider of imaging services in Europe and to the UK National Health Service – will draw on multiple GE Healthcare solutions which employ advanced data analytics, remote collaboration tools, and AI. One such solution, the Imaging Growth Tile, is an AI app in GE’s Command Centre Software Platform that will harmonise real-time data from across Alliance Medical sites to predict equipment utilisation and suggest opportunities to optimise scheduling. This and other solutions, brought together for the first time, will help radiology departments to optimise operational productivity, drive consistency of care, facilitate virtual collaboration between experts and deliver enhanced cost-effectiveness.

Through this partnership, the companies also hope to improve patient outcomes by standardising protocols, minimising radiation dosage required for imaging, and delivering more consistent, better coordinated care across multiple sites. The companies also hope to improve patient access by using advanced data and AI to examine internal and external data factors to help pinpoint the likelihood of people not showing up for their appointments.

Although this initial agreement is focused on the UK, the two companies are looking to expand the model into other countries and geographies.

“Radiology departments are facing significant challenges, with severe staff shortages being exacerbated by lengthening patient backlogs. The result is demand exceeding the capacity to deliver. There is no solution to this problem without innovation, which is exactly what this partnership with GE Healthcare is all about,” said Richard Evans, managing director, Alliance Medical.

“Our software delivers a brand-new level of 360 visibility, allowing radiology departments to manage complexity and optimise productivity in a way that couldn’t be done before. Most important of all, we hope it will unburden clinicians and empower them to focus on what matters most: providing the best patient care possible,” said Simon McGuire, general manager, GE Healthcare Northern Europe.

This new agreement extends an existing partnership between GE Healthcare and Alliance Medical, which includes a £45 million agreement to supply more than 70 medical imaging systems over three years across oncology, cardiology and neurological care pathways. The two companies are also developing a model for rapid diagnostic centres to speed up cancer diagnosis. Alliance Medical is also supporting GE’s Edison Accelerator programme, the company’s initiative to develop promising start-ups by bringing them together with healthcare providers that can help them grow. Through the Edison Accelerator, Alliance is working with start-ups to validate AI algorithms.

Picture: Richard Evans Alliance Medical managing director UK , Life Healthcare international ceo Mark Chapman, GE Healthcare ceo EMEA Rob Walton, European Scanning Centre manager Sam Snell and GE program project implementation manager Mariam Darwish.

This news story has been sponsored by the companies concerned and does not represent the views or opinions of RAD Magazine.