Google Cloud Partners with HCA to Develop Healthcare Algorithms

Source:-https://hitinfrastructure.com/

Google Cloud recently entered into a multi-year agreement with national hospital chain HCA Healthcare to create customized healthcare algorithms to improve clinical decision-making.

The partnership will create a secure and dynamic data analytics platform for HCA Healthcare and enable the development of next generation operational models focused on actionable insights and improved workflows.

Previously, HCA Healthcare developed algorithm-informed decision support tools for caregivers and identified clinical practices that reduce infections and improve perinatal care.

The algorithms help to improve operating efficiency, monitor patients, guide clinical decision-making, and automate how hospital units track inventory of critical supplies.

The partnership with Google Cloud will enhance HCA Healthcare’s efforts and continue to improve and develop new advanced decision support to promote quality, safety, and efficiency.

“Next-generation care demands data science-informed decision support so we can more sharply focus on safe, efficient and effective patient care,” Sam Hazen, chief executive officer of HCA Healthcare, said in the announcement.

“We view partnerships with leading organizations, like Google Cloud, that share our passion for innovation and continual improvement as foundational to our efforts,” Hazen continued.

Overall, the partnership will empower caregivers with workflow tools to help them quickly respond to changes in a patient’s condition.

The companies will focus on impacting non-clinical support areas that may benefit from improved workflows through better use of insights, such as supply chains and human resources.

Under the agreement, Google Cloud will provide its healthcare data offerings, including Google Cloud Healthcare API, BigQuery, and HIPAA compliance. Additionally, the company’s data, analytics, and artificial intelligence offerings will power custom solutions for clinical and operational settings.

As part of the agreement, Google isn’t permitted to use patient-identifiable information and can access data when needed with consent from HCA.

HCA Healthcare, which operates across nearly 2,000 locations in 21 states, will consolidate and store data from digital health records and internet-connected medical devices. Patient records would be stripped of identifying information before being shared with Google data scientists and that the hospital system would control access to the data.

But Google can develop analytic tools without patient records, while HCA can test the models independently. This will enable the development of the healthcare algorithms.

The multi-year agreement between HCA Healthcare and Google Cloud grows both company’s reach in the healthcare space, especially during the recent shift to digital records.

“The cloud can be an accelerant for innovation in health, particularly in driving data interoperability, which is critical in streamlining operations and providing better quality of care to improve patient outcomes,” said Thomas Kurian, CEO of Google Cloud.

“We are honored to partner with HCA Healthcare on this unique opportunity to be at the forefront of advancing care through the power of real-time data availability to support clinical and operational workflows,” Kurian continued.

HCA Healthcare also recently tapped Google Cloud to launch a COVID-19 data sharing platform to enable the exchange of key information during the pandemic.

The COVID-19 National Response Portal runs on Google Cloud and promotes COVID-19 patient data sharing to uncover how the virus is spreading and help communities to prepare and respond.

The portal allows healthcare providers to safely share and display anonymous, aggregated metrics from hospital systems to other platforms. Providers will then be able to share and display information from the pandemic.