Solutions are improving cardio-vascular health records, infection control and surgery planning
Elly Yates-Roberts |
Apollo Hospitals, one of India’s largest private healthcare companies, is using cloud, big data analytics and artificial intelligence (AI) to expand the quality of healthcare to over 300 million Indians.
The healthcare provider is making progress in management due to the adoption of the Azure cloud-based Prism system, and its customer relationship management system, Ask Apollo, which allows users to book appointments and have online consultations with doctors.
Sangita Reddy, joint managing director, Apollo Hospitals, describes the foundations of digital transformation as the three ‘Bs’ – biology, bytes, and bandwidth.
“Biology in terms of knowing the human genome and how diseases develop and spread, bytes in terms of the massive amounts of data that can be stored and analysed on the cloud and bandwidth in terms of increasing global connectivity to extend healthcare to even the remotest areas,” she said. “Digital technology gives us speed, efficiency, access and knowledge across the medical ecosystem.”
Through a partnership with Microsoft’s AI Network for Healthcare, Apollo Hospitals now applies machine learning and AI to cardio-vascular health records to develop an Indian-specific heart risk score. With the new heart risk score for India, Apollo Hospitals’ AI model helps predict a patient’s risk for heart disease which allows doctors to establish treatment plans are provide an earlier diagnosis.
Now, when a patient goes for a cardio health check, the doctor can build up a more accurate cardio-vascular health profile based on machine learning and all their previous patient data. AI can predict future coronary conditions the patient might experience in the next 10 to 20 years. Secondly, the doctor can make a patient health plan that addresses these possibilities whether it be prescribing medicine or recommending specific lifestyle changes.
“This analysis should give us deeper clinical insights. So why does an individual with an X genetic biological presentation have disease X but not Y?” added Reddy. “Why does someone with the same lifestyle not have the same problem? Computing capacity is enabling us to take this data and generate clinical insights.”
Power BI data analytics is also helping to increase infection control within the hospital, preventing avoidable outbreaks. The solution managers monitor the implementation of patient dosages and quickly make required changes when the analytics point towards potential risk areas in the hospital. The average length of patient hospital stay has been reduced by 22% creating more time for patients to be treated.
The adoption of cloud technology has improved the process of pre-planning for surgeries as doctors can share high resolution 3D imagery and consult partner doctors locally and abroad in real time, improving success rates.