Improving Care and Safety with AI at Sheba

As the global population ages, average morbidity rates are on the rise. While modern medicine extends longevity, we are also extending the number of years people live with chronic illness. What may appear to be an impressive statistic supporting medical achievements also signifies an increasing burden on healthcare systems that are fast becoming overstretched.

In today’s digital era, decision-makers and organizations have realized that investing in innovative technologies, such as artificial intelligence (AI), is key for transformation to occur in healthcare. Such technologies must be implemented alongside the physician at the heart of the system. According to Prof. Eyal Zimlichman, Sheba’s Chief Transformation and Innovation Officer as well as Founder and Director of the ARC Innovation Center, after countless years of little progress in patient safety, AI-driven technology has driven a shift in how care is managed.

Developed at ARC (Accelerate, Redesign, Collaborate), Sheba’s globally acclaimed innovation ecosystem, and first deployed at Sheba, Aidoc is an AI-driven solution used in more than 1000 hospitals worldwide. Aidoc analyzes medical images directly after the patient is scanned, providing accurate results and improving efficiency. Thanks to Aidoc, more accurate patient diagnosis and monitoring have resulted in better patient outcomes, organizational gains, and an overall increase in department capabilities.

At ARC, innovative technologies are used to improve patient care and overall organizational outcomes. According to Prof. Zimlichman, “By employing an AI solution to analyze medical imaging outputs, a suspected stroke in a CT scan will be identified more accurately and much faster compared to the traditional way.”

The benefits of AI-driven technology in interpreting patient scans extend beyond the quality of care patients receive and also result in improved organizational efficiency. Physicians will no longer need to spend endless hours reviewing scans, as the challenge of disease detection will be overcome with high accuracy. This will prevent delays in treatment and reduce illness and hospitalization, but also improve the medical team’s time management, reduce burnout, and help tackle the shortage of radiologists.

With an innovation-focused orientation, hospitals can save significant amounts of money every year, as patient conditions will be treated early, before they become illnesses and chronic diseases, using these funds to further enhance patient care.

What’s next? Current uses of AI in healthcare are just the beginning of our vision for transformation. Future plans include making Aidoc a lot more accessible by, for example, bringing it to the patient’s bedside to perform an echocardiogram.

As faster, more accurate, and better care becomes a reality through the use of AI innovations, we look forward to leading the global transformation medicine needs.