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 solutions to identify value opportunities and drive organizational 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 that it had developed machine learning techniques to provide early warning to diabetes-related damage to retinas, or diabetic retinopathy. The company also announced that it has developed AI techniques that can diagnose lung cancer up to a year earlier than current techniques allow.

In the UK, 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 leading high acuity healthcare provider and hospitals group in the US state of Georgia, based in Atlanta. Emory has more than 24,000 employees and 11 hospitals, with $4.4 billion in annual net revenue. System-wide, it has 2,691 licensed patient beds, more than 2,800 physicians practising in more than 70 specialties and serves metro Atlanta with 250 locations. The group’s leading academic healthcare hospitals include Emory Saint Joseph’s Hospital, Emory University Hospital and Emory University Orthopaedics & Spine Hospital.

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.

“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 S. Lewin, MD, president and CEO, 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.”

“As physicians, we can improve what we can measure,” said Vivian Lee, MD, president of health platforms, 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.”