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| Orion Systems Wins Grant to Develop Artificial Intelligence in Health Care |
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Posted: 3 February 2004
Orion Systems International has won a $600,000 grant from Technology New Zealand to develop world-leading artificial intelligence technology to assist clinicians with the quality, speed and accuracy of clinical decision-making.
The grant will enable research into a novel artificial intelligence engine for a new software product that will outstrip the power and functionality of existing medical decision-making systems, at a cost that will bring the clinical and patient benefits within the reach even of small hospitals.
A clinical decision-support IT system evaluates patient case notes against a knowledge database. It conducts the evaluation in the context of a patient's previous and current consultations, comparing the patient data with state of the art medical knowledge bases. It is able to provide high quality diagnoses and treatment options to support the clinician. The clinician ultimately has the final say in patient care delivery and can always choose to override the computer if necessary.
"The problem with existing systems is that they are large, inflexible, and their adoption requires massive IT infrastructure replacement," said Ian McCrae, CEO of Orion Systems New Zealand Limited.
"We are pursuing a web-based approach that will deliver a product that integrates into a hospital's existing platforms - saving tens of millions of dollars per site in implementation costs."
The research and development project is being undertaken in partnership with the University of Auckland. Orion hopes that advanced artificial intelligence techniques pioneered by the University's Computer Science Department will provide the foundation for the new software product.
"Our approach will utilise novel artificial intelligence techniques as well as traditional rules-based decision-making for appropriate diagnosis and treatment suggestions," said Prof John Hosking, HOD for the Auckland University Computer Science Department.
"Intelligent assessment and processing of clinical cases will allow much more flexibility and more accurate interpretation of clinical evidence."
The potential for this approach to benefit clinical practice is even more wide-reaching, however. If the research project proves the proposed novel AI approach, the system will also learn from clinical experience and accumulate medical knowledge as it develops - in much the same way as a doctor learns from the experience of treating patients. This would provide a powerful tool for propagating knowledge from the very latest and most valuable clinical studies out to frontline medical practice, at a much faster rate than is currently possible.
From a hospital management point of view, the system will present treatment recommendations to practitioners at the point of care that are in line with applicable standards-of-care policies for each institution.
"This AI approach to clinical decision-making has not been tried before, to our knowledge, anywhere else in the world. We are very optimistic that with the University of Auckland's help the approach will work. But there is a significant technological hurdle to overcome before the approach is proven to work in practice, and proven to be commercially viable. The Technology New Zealand grant is designed to enable Orion to overcome that technology hurdle," Ian McCrae said.
Orion is matching Technology New Zealand's grant on a dollar-for-dollar basis. The University is providing its expertise on a consultancy basis, with a commercial agreement covering intellectual property of the research findings. At a total $1.2 million, the research project is a major investment in world-leading New Zealand software innovation.
"This is a great example of Technology New Zealand enabling a public-private R&D partnership to draw on the very best available expertise and cutting edge thought, while providing a channel for the successful commercialisation of our innovation," Ian McCrae said.
"We believe there are strong domestic and export markets for a product built on this research. The success of this project will also attract investment by further cementing New Zealand's health care software development expertise on the international map. We are confident that New Zealand will reap the economic benefit of Technology New Zealand's support for this project." |
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QUOTE OF THE DAY
“ By necessity New Zealanders are outward looking….well grounded but open to new ideas.”
David Teece, New Zealander, Outstanding World Economist
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