Hackensack Meridian Health to use machine learning to diagnose disease

Oct. 21, 2021

Hackensack Meridian Health is partnering with Google Cloud to deploy artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) in key clinical areas, such as screening and detection, to help transform the way healthcare is delivered to thousands of patients across New Jersey.

Hackensack Meridian Health recently migrated to Google Workspace and will be one of the first health systems in the world to use Chrome OS devices across clinical and business environments.

“Hackensack Meridian Health is always looking for new and innovative ways we can utilize technology to transform the patient experience,” says Robert C. Garrett, FACHE, CEO, Hackensack Meridian Health. “Through our collaboration with Google, we are enhancing patient care and improving health outcomes.”

The two organizations plan to work together to deploy AI/ML solutions to assist in screening and disease detection, such as:

  • Newborn screenings. Hackensack Meridian Health is looking at ways to leverage AI/ML technologies like Natural Language Processing (NLP) and Optical Character Recognition (OCR) to put results in the provider’s hand as soon as possible. This initiative allows providers to receive automatic notification of test results and expedite access to review the newborn patient’s screening results and medical information.
  • Mammography screenings. Hackensack Meridian Health is looking to improve the accuracy of mammogram readings using AI to conduct secondary screenings, potentially catching issues undetected by a provider and improving overall quality.
  • Prostate cancer screenings. Recent research has identified a wide variance in prostate cancer outcomes among male patients within different demographic groups. Hackensack Meridian Health is using AI/ML technologies to pinpoint and understand specific factors that influence this variance in patient outcome. AI/ML models can be built to predict patient outcomes and provide potential treatment paths.
  • Sepsis detection. Hackensack Meridian Health is looking to utilize AI/ML technologies to analyze patients’ medical data and predict risk of infection in real-time.
  • COVID-19 detection. Hackensack Meridian Health is looking at ways to use natural language processing, an AI technology, to analyze the clinical notes of patients with COVID-19. The goal of this initiative is to better understand COVID-19 signs and symptoms, and how the disease progresses in patients.

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