Industry Watcher’s Digest

Buzzworthy developments of the past several days.

• Watson rises and shines anew. Less than a year after IBM sold the operative guts of its Watson Health business for $1 billion, the corporation is introducing a new AI platform. Announcing the move May 9, IBM says the new incarnation—watsonx—is good for foundation models, generative AI and machine learning. The full package includes a studio, data store and governance toolkit. Announcement here, website here.
   
• Mayo all in with Lucem. A clinical AI startup focused on early disease detection and point-of-care guidance has received a $7.7 million cash infusion from Mayo Clinic and other influential investors. Lucem Health of Davidson, N.C., says it will use the Series A funds to further develop its platform, expand its product line and build its marketing might. Announcement.
   
• AI in the endoscopy suite. Colonoscopists are about to be offered FDA-cleared AI assistance for diagnosing polyps. To be marketed by Iterative Health of Cambridge, Mass., the tool, called Skout, increased detection of adenomas (potentially cancerous polyps) by 27% in a randomized trial. Read more.
   
• Large-language versatility. DiagnaMed of Toronto has launched a generative AI product that collects and analyzes healthcare data for administrative as well as clinical aims. The company says its FormGPT.io helps providers use ChatGPT to create customized forms and surveys but can also assist with patient feedback, progress monitoring and clinical decisions. Announcement.
   
• AI’s eyes on the pancreas. Researchers have demonstrated the utility of AI-based population screening for patients at elevated risk for pancreatic cancer. In trials led by investigators at Harvard Medical School and the University of Copenhagen, the tool showed it could flag affected patients by up to three years ahead of diagnosis. And the patients’ clinical histories were all it had to work with. Journal study here, Harvard coverage here.
   
• If you’re not using healthcare AI yet, just you wait. Some 66% of healthcare professionals are aware that AI technologies like ChatGPT and Med-PaLM 2 are being used in American medicine. Meanwhile more than 10% already use some form of AI, and almost 50% expect to do so before long. So found the healthtech company Tebra when it surveyed 1,000 healthcare consumers and 500 healthcare workers. Survey results and analysis here.
   
• And a megadollar award goes to … an AI-enabled toolkit that smartly guides cancer patients through their care journeys. The clever software has won its creators a share of $1 million in prize money at Northwell Health. The health system based in New Hyde Park, N.Y., annually holds an internal innovation challenge. The cancer AI designers share 2023 honors with colleagues who came up with a novel bioelectronic treatment for stroke. Details here.
   
• Did you say the check is in the mail? Outbound AI of Seattle is touting the ability of its virtual agents to navigate recorded phone interactions, wait on hold and speak with actual humans. The technology does all this and more, the company says, to help providers get paid for their services promptly while “elevating the daily job experience for human [administrative] talent.” News release here.  
   
• Coronary assessment made easy with AI. AI can supply important insights into heart function during fairly routine chest X-rays enhanced with contrast media, heading off the need for more involved tests. Researchers demonstrated the technique, AI-aided coronary angiography, at UC-San Francisco and described it in JAMA Cardiology. News summary in Cardiovascular Business.
   
• Keep on rockin’ in the O.R. No surgery team knew they needed it, but here comes an AI radio station playing rock music “clinically shown to improve surgical accuracy and efficiency.”  Brought to life on Spotify by NextMedHealth of San Diego, the gig features—for starters—such instant classics as “Surgeries Done Dirt Cheap,” “You Sewed Me All Night Long,” “Highway to Heal” and other songs played in the style of AC/DC. Announcement. Sample tunes.