Microsoft Collaborates with Leading Medical Institutions to Advance AI in Medical Imaging

Microsoft collaborates with Mass General Brigham and University of Wisconsin-Madison to further advance AI foundation models for medical imaging

Collaborations empower the healthcare industry to create a vast array of medical imaging copilot applications that will help enhance radiologists' experiences and contribute to better patient outcomes REDMOND, Wash., July 24, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Microsoft Corp. on Wednesday announced collaborations with leading academic medical systems Mass General Brigham and the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health along with its partnering health system, UW Health, to accelerate solving some of the biggest challenges in radiology and further advance AI in medical imaging to drive clinician efficiency and enable better health outcomes. The collaborations will foster research and innovation tied to the advancement of high-performing multimodal AI foundation models that empower the entire radiology ecosystem to build on top of the secure Microsoft Azure AI platform and extend the Nuance (a Microsoft company) suite of radiology applications, delivering a wide array of high-value medical imaging copilot applications. Medical imaging plays a crucial role in healthcare. Health systems spend an estimated $65 billion each year on imaging, and approximately 80% of all hospital and health system visits include at least one imaging exam related to more than 23,000 conditions. Faced with challenges that the overall healthcare industry grapples with, including physician burnout and staffing shortages, healthcare organizations are looking to generative AI to help reduce workloads, enhance workflow efficiencies, and improve the accuracy and consistency of medical image analysis for care delivery, clinical trials recruitment and drug discovery. Generative AI in radiology also may help enhance patient experiences by reducing wait times for imaging results, further opening up access to care and improving the quality of care. With the right multimodal data-enriched medical imaging foundation models, Microsoft and its partners will explore how advanced algorithms and applications can help radiologists and other clinicians interpret medical images, as well as assist with report generation, disease classification and structured data analysis. Microsoft has long been focused on the potential of providing high-performing first- and third-party advanced foundation models and copilot experiences across the ecosystem to empower everyone on the planet to achieve more. Additionally, Microsoft has been an innovator in the space of medical imaging research and biomedical natural language processing, collaborating with experts in medicine to democratize AI and empower researchers, hospitals, life science organizations and healthcare providers to develop new models and systems. Through these collaborations, researchers and clinicians at Mass General Brigham, UW School of Medicine and Public Health, and UW Health will work with Microsoft to further advance state-of-the-art multimodal foundation models. The organizations will collaborate on the development, testing and validation of the latest breakthrough technology, deploying real-world use cases into clinical workflows including via Nuance's PowerScribe radiology reporting platform, used by the majority of radiologists in the U.S., and the Nuance Precision Imaging Network, which offers a single point of access to automate and scale use of third-party medical imaging AI models for a range of modalities and specialties. "Generative AI has transformative potential to overcome traditional barriers in AI product development and to accelerate the impact of these technologies on clinical care. As healthcare leaders, we need to carefully and responsibly develop and evaluate such tools to ensure high-quality care is in no way compromised," said Keith J. Dreyer, D.O., Ph.D., chief data science officer and chief imaging officer at Mass General Brigham and leader of the Mass General Brigham AI business. "Foundation models fine-tuned on Mass General Brigham's vast multimodal longitudinal data assets can enable a shorter development cycle of AI/ML-based software as a medical device and other clinical applications, for example, to automate the segmentation of organs and abnormalities in medical imaging and increase radiologists' efficiency and consistency." "Our institutions have a reputation for embracing technical innovations as opportunities to lead the transformation of our field with new scientific discovery and improvement in clinical care," said Scott Reeder, M.D., Ph.D., chair of the Department of Radiology, University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health, and radiologist at UW Health. "We are excited to collaborate with Microsoft on the development, validation and thoughtful clinical investigation of generative AI in the medical imaging space. Our focus is to bridge the gap within medical imaging from innovation to patient care in ways that improve outcomes and make innovative care more accessible." "We are proud to announce our expanded collaborations with leading institutions like Mass General Brigham and UW. Along with other industry partners, our joint efforts aim to leverage the power of imaging foundation models to improve experiences and workflow efficiency across the radiology ecosystem in a way that is reliable, transparent and secure," said Peter Durlach, corporate vice president, Microsoft Health and Life Sciences. "Together, we are not only advancing medical imaging, but also helping deliver more accessible and better-quality patient care in a very resource-constrained environment." The industry continues to see rapid advancements in generative AI in radiology and other imaging specialties. With these advances comes an even greater responsibility to prioritize patient privacy and build systems guided by Microsoft's Responsible AI principles. In addition to building our own AI systems responsibly and in ways that warrant people's trust, we empower our customers with tools and features to do the same. We invest in our customers' responsible AI goals in three ways: The collaborations with Mass General Brigham, UW and many other industry partners aim to accelerate the development of high-performing foundation models for medical imaging that support and enable the greater healthcare ecosystem in a way that adheres to Microsoft's responsible AI principles. Read more in our 2024 Responsible AI Transparency Report. Microsoft (Nasdaq "MSFT" @microsoft) creates platforms and tools powered by AI to deliver innovative solutions that meet the evolving needs of our customers. The technology company is committed to making AI available broadly and doing so responsibly, with a mission to empower every person and every organization on the planet to achieve more. JAMA. 2012;307(22):2400-2409. doi:10.1001/jama.2012.5960 Healthcare, Definitive. "Healthcare Analytics & Provider Data | Definitive Healthcare." Definitive Healthcare - Database of Hospitals & Healthcare Providers, www.definitivehc.com Subject to appropriate regulatory approvals

Microsoft teams up with top medical institutions for AI imaging By Investing.com

REDMOND, Wash. - In a move to enhance radiology and patient outcomes, Microsoft Corp (NASDAQ:MSFT). announced on Wednesday collaborations with Mass General Brigham and the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health, as well as UW Health. The partnerships aim to tackle some of the most pressing challenges in radiology by advancing AI in medical imaging, leveraging Microsoft's secure Azure AI platform and Nuance's suite of radiology applications to improve clinician efficiency. The healthcare industry, facing physician burnout and staffing shortages, is increasingly turning to generative AI to alleviate workloads, streamline workflows, and heighten the precision of medical image analysis. These technologies are anticipated to not only improve patient experiences by shortening wait times for imaging results but also to expand access to care and elevate care quality. Microsoft and its collaborators will focus on developing multimodal AI foundation models to aid radiologists and clinicians in interpreting medical images, generating reports, classifying diseases, and analyzing structured data. Mass General Brigham, UW School of Medicine and Public Health, and UW Health will work with Microsoft to advance these models, integrating them into clinical workflows through Nuance's PowerScribe radiology reporting platform and the Nuance Precision Imaging Network (LON:NETW). Keith J. Dreyer, D.O., Ph.D., of Mass General Brigham, highlighted the transformative potential of generative AI in healthcare, emphasizing the need for careful development and evaluation to maintain high-quality care. Scott Reeder, M.D., Ph.D., from the University of Wisconsin, expressed enthusiasm for the collaboration, aiming to translate imaging innovations into improved patient outcomes and accessibility. Peter Durlach, corporate vice president at Microsoft Health and Life Sciences, expressed pride in the collaborations, noting their potential to enhance radiology experiences and workflow efficiency in a resource-constrained environment while ensuring reliability, transparency, and security. As the industry witnesses rapid advancements in AI for radiology, Microsoft reiterates its commitment to responsible AI practices. The company supports its customers in deploying AI responsibly, providing tools, features, and transparency documentation to aid in the development of AI applications. This initiative is part of Microsoft's broader efforts to democratize AI in healthcare, as detailed in their 2024 Responsible AI Transparency Report, and to adhere to responsible AI principles. The collaboration is based on a press release statement and aims to develop high-performing foundation models for medical imaging that benefit the wider healthcare ecosystem. In other recent news, CrowdStrike (NASDAQ:CRWD), a cybersecurity firm, faced significant financial losses due to a flawed security software update, leading to a widespread outage affecting computers running on Microsoft's Windows operating system. The malfunction caused disruptions across various sectors, including airlines, banking, and healthcare, with estimated losses for Fortune 500 companies, excluding Microsoft, ranging from $540 million to $1.08 billion, as reported by insurance company Parametrix. Despite the severity of the situation, ratings agency Fitch stated that the global insurance and reinsurance market is not expected to be significantly financially impacted by the outage. Simultaneously, Microsoft has been in the spotlight with Piper Sandler raising the tech giant's price target to $485, citing optimism about Microsoft's cloud revenue growth prospects. The firm predicts that Microsoft's cloud revenue could double to over $200 billion by the end of fiscal year 2026, reflecting the shift towards cloud transformation. In other developments, OpenAI has reassigned its AI safety leader, Aleksander Madry, to a broader role within the organization. This change comes amidst advancements in OpenAI's chatbots, raising safety concerns among some observers. These recent developments provide insights into the current state of affairs in these companies. In light of Microsoft Corp.'s recent announcement to advance AI in medical imaging, the company's financial health remains robust, as reflected in its latest metrics. With a colossal market capitalization of $3.23 trillion, Microsoft stands as a titan in the tech industry. Its commitment to innovation in healthcare is backed by strong financials, including a gross profit margin of 69.89% over the last twelve months as of Q3 2024, indicating a healthy ability to generate earnings relative to its revenue. Microsoft's dedication to enhancing technology in various sectors, including healthcare, aligns with its status as a prominent player in the software industry -- an InvestingPro Tip that underscores the company's influential role. Moreover, Microsoft's revenue growth of 17.03% in Q3 2024 on a quarterly basis demonstrates its continued expansion and potential to leverage its financial strength in new ventures like the recent collaboration in radiology AI. For investors and stakeholders, Microsoft's financial stability is further evidenced by its ability to maintain dividend payments for 22 consecutive years, a testament to its consistent performance and shareholder value proposition. For more insights and additional InvestingPro Tips, such as Microsoft's trading at a high earnings multiple and its low price volatility, interested parties can visit InvestingPro. There are 15 more InvestingPro Tips available, offering in-depth analysis for those looking to make informed decisions. Don't forget to use the coupon code PRONEWS24 to get up to 10% off a yearly Pro and a yearly or biyearly Pro+ subscription.