Alphabet healthcare subsidiary Verily, formerly known as Google Life Sciences, is partnering Emory Healthcare to apply machine learning and big data analytics to improve patient outcomes and operational effectiveness at the Atlanta, Georgia, based acute healthcare provider.
 
An initial focus of the partnership will involve a deep analysis of existing medication and lab ordering patterns at Emory, followed by the deployment of ways to identify value opportunities and drive organisational change.
 
Verily is focused on developing machine learning and data science technologies and methods to improve the life sciences and medicine. Earlier this year, it announced it had developed machine-learning techniques to provide early warning to diabetes-related damage to retinas, or diabetic retinopathy. The company also announced it had developed AI techniques that can diagnose lung cancer up to a year earlier than with current techniques.
 
Google’s UK-based AI specialist affiliate Deepmind is working with several NHS healthcare providers, including Moorfields NHS Trust and Imperial College NHS Trust, to develop deep-learning technologies for clinical diagnostics.
 
Emory Healthcare is a high acuity healthcare provider and hospitals group in Atlanta, Georgia. It has more than 24,000 employees and 11 hospitals, with $4.4bn in annual net revenue. System-wide, it has 2691 licensed patient beds and more than 2800 physicians practising in more than 70 specialties, and serves metro Atlanta with 250 locations. The group’s academic healthcare hospitals include Emory Saint Joseph’s Hospital, Emory University Hospital and Emory University Orthopaedics & Spine Hospital.
 
“We’re thrilled to be partnering with Verily on ways to leverage big data responsibly and focus on implementation science to critically improve the quality, safety and value of care we provide,” said Jonathan Lewin, CEO of Emory Healthcare. “We look forward to unlocking new insights that can help our team increase efficiency and enable us to deliver the best diagnosis and treatment of patients at the point of care.”
 
Verily has announced a series of projects across clinical research and clinical care that are focused on improving clinical efficiency. These include projects with Atrius Health and Veterans Administration Palo Alto, as well as Emory Healthcare.
 
“As physicians, we can improve what we can measure,” said Vivian Lee, president of health platforms at Verily. “This initiative will put actionable data in the hands of teams on the front lines of care delivery. Emory Healthcare is already on the forefront of harnessing data to improve healthcare quality and innovation. We look forward to learning from this impressive partner and to deploying new solutions to old problems.”