SingHealth, one of Singapore’s major health clusters, is partnering with Philips to enhance healthcare delivery with new AI integrations.
Under their memorandum of understanding, they will set up teams to work on three digital health projects over the next three years. These include:
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a project automating and streamlining digital image workflows with embedded AI;
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“next-generation” data analytics with live stream clinical data as a foundation to introduce programmable AI and visualisation layers; and
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a smart ICU project establishing a unified monitoring system, with new clinical decision support tools, advanced equipment, as well as AI models and algorithms for better patient assessment and monitoring.
WHY IT MATTERS
SingHealth pursues a digital-first strategy in delivering patient-centric care. As part of this, it is working towards a standardised data architecture.
“The projects identified are areas where we mutually identified potential impact by developing and deploying digital solutions to progress our transformation journey,” Professor Kenneth Kwek, SingHealth deputy group CEO (Digital Health), explained to Healthcare IT News.
“SingHealth has a mature data warehouse and is in the process of [transitioning] to a refreshed analytics and AI platform. Our colleagues have ready access to data from multiple sources through the data warehouse to support their operational reporting, analytics needs, and AI/ML development,” he added.
When asked about privacy and security measures for the upcoming AI integrations, Prof Kwek said: “We are guided by clear cybersecurity and data governance policies to protect our systems and data. We work closely with Synapxe to implement tools and measures to maintain our tight cybersecurity posture and this applies to data and analytics work too.”
THE LARGER TREND
SingHealth previously collaborated with Philips to integrate and improve access to ECG information across its network. Late last year, it started working together to establish a training centre on advanced imaging.
In October, Singapore’s Ministry of Health announced a $150 million infusion to the MOH Health Innovation Fund to drive AI implementations, including generative AI tools, across the public healthcare system.
The Singaporean government has been actively promoting AI integrations over the past years, with Synapxe, the national health tech agency, leading the initiatives. It has supported SingHealth, for instance, in integrating validated radiology AI through AimSG. Last year, Synapse rolled out the data analytics platform HEALIX, which consolidates existing data infrastructure from individual public hospitals and health facilities in Singapore.
