The cases are from the journal’s weekly series that aims to baffle physicians by presenting difficult, complex situations in which the diagnosis isn’t immediately apparent. Using roughly 300 of these cases, Microsoft compared the performance of its MAI-DxO to 21 general-practice physicians. Microsoft’s team first developed a mechanism to simulate the iterative process that physicians usually follow when handling these cases: gathering data, evaluating it, ordering tests, and making decisions based on the findings.

“A collection of commercial AI models, including Claude, DeepSeek, Gemini, GPT, Grok, and Llama, were compared to the 21 physicians. The Microsoft team also created an Orchestrator, a virtual representation of the sounding board of colleagues and consultations that doctors frequently seek out in complex cases, to further mimic how human doctors handle such difficult cases,” the study stated.

Microsoft monitored the tests that the AI system and human doctors ordered to determine which approach could complete the work more affordably, as ordering medical tests in the real world is expensive. In addition to performing significantly better than physicians in determining the right diagnosis, MAI-DxO was able to do so at an average cost that was 20% lower.

“The four-fold increase in accuracy was more than previous studies have shown. Most of the time, there is a 10% absolute percentage difference, so this is a really big jump. But what really got his attention was the cost. Not only was the AI more accurate, but it was much less expensive,” Dr. Eric Topol, chair of translational medicine and director and founder of the Scripps Research Translational Institute, told Times Magazine.

Since MAI-DxO is still in development, it is not yet usable for purposes other than research. However, implementing such a model could potentially improve patient outcomes by reducing medical errors, which contribute significantly to healthcare costs, and by increasing the effectiveness of human physicians.

“This is a startling result. I think it gives us a clear line of sight to making the very best expert diagnostics available to everybody in the world at an unbelievably affordable price point. We are nearing AI models that are not just a little bit better, but dramatically better, than human performance: faster, cheaper and four times more accurate,” said Mustafa Suleyman, CEO of Microsoft AI, during an interview with the Financial Times, while describing the trial as a step toward “medical superintelligence.”

According to Suleyman, when AI algorithms were first used in medicine ten years ago, they were primarily used for binary tasks like tumour detection in image scanning. Microsoft’s research even suggests AI diagnostic tools could reduce unnecessary healthcare expenditures whilst improving accuracy – as the United States’ health spending is approaching 20% of GDP, with an estimated 25% providing minimal impact on patient outcomes.

“Important challenges remain before Gen AI can be safely and responsibly deployed across healthcare. We need evidence drawn from real clinical environments, alongside appropriate governance and regulatory frameworks to ensure reliability, safety and efficacy,” said Microsoft’s research team.

He claims that these models are currently having very high-quality, fluid conversations in which they ask the appropriate questions, probe in the right ways, and recommend the appropriate testing and interventions at the appropriate times. An AI system may also benefit from not having many of the biases that come with being human.

“Across Microsoft’s AI consumer products like Bing and Copilot, we see over 50 million health-related sessions every day. From a first-time knee-pain query to a late-night search for an urgent-care clinic, search engines and AI companions are quickly becoming the new front line in healthcare,” the company said in a blog post.

“As demand for healthcare continues to grow, costs are rising at an unsustainable pace, and billions of people face multiple barriers to better health. We want to do more to help and believe generative AI can be transformational. That’s why, at the 2024 end, we launched a dedicated consumer health effort at Microsoft AI, led by clinicians, designers, engineers, and AI scientists,” the tech giant stated further. According to Dominic King, vice president of Microsoft AI, “Confirmation bias affects everyone. Clinicians occasionally think, ‘I’m sure this is just like the patient I saw recently,’ after observing something. However, AI has a slightly different way of thinking.”

MAI-DxO is not just a simple spit-out system. It does its work in such a way that doctors may be able to study and examine its reasoning. However, some medical and AI experts point out that Microsoft’s method isn’t wholly original because its diagnoses relied on the combined output of several AI models.

“In my mind, they are not testing any individual model that is optimised for healthcare. They are testing the concept of testing all of the models out there today and combining their decision-making. That part, to me, is not surprising,” Keith Dreyer, chief data science officer at Massachusetts General Hospital and Brigham and Women’s Hospital Centre for Clinical Data Science, said.

Additionally, Dreyer notes that the findings do not necessarily mean that regulatory bodies like the US Food and Drug Administration, which has yet to make a determination on whether or not such systems qualify as medical devices, will approve them.

Microsoft is not alone in its pursuit of an AI-powered medical diagnostic programme. Google is creating a dialogue-based system to simulate the back-and-forth between a doctor and patient, replicating how real doctors gather data from patients and analyse those symptoms to arrive at a diagnosis. In preliminary testing, the system performed better than physicians in correctly diagnosing case studies of simulated patients. The previous iteration of Google’s system correctly identified 59% of cases in a 2024 test that was comparable to the one Microsoft conducted using case studies, while human doctors only did so in 33% of cases.

The true test will be how well these AI systems function in real-world healthcare settings. Understanding how AI could enhance or support a physician’s role in disease diagnosis is the next step. Topol remarks, “What they accomplished is impressive.” However, until they are implemented in actual medical environments, it won’t alter medical practice. Topol hopes the AI systems will be tested in various health systems so that physicians and the AI platform can be compared on a variety of more common and diverse cases.

A comprehensive clinical trial and regulatory agency approval are necessary to ensure that patients won’t suffer any harm from a greater reliance on AI-based decision-making in the provision of care. Dominic King states, “We are very much on that journey to create the evidence base required to support doctors and patients to make a difference in their health.”

Microsoft’s MAI-DxO marks a significant milestone in the integration of AI into clinical diagnostics, showcasing higher accuracy and lower costs than human doctors in complex cases. While still in development, the system’s potential to enhance medical decision-making, reduce diagnostic errors, and ease healthcare costs is compelling. However, the road to real-world adoption remains cautious. Experts stress the need for extensive clinical trials, transparency, and regulatory approval to ensure safety and reliability. Though not a replacement for physicians, AI systems like MAI-DxO could become powerful collaborators in modern medicine, offering second opinions and data-driven insights.

As tech giants like Microsoft and Google race to refine these tools, the healthcare industry stands on the brink of transformation. This shift must be approached with scientific rigour, ethical foresight, and a strong commitment to patient safety. Microsoft has already built other healthcare AI tools like RAD-DINO (for radiology workflows) and Dragon Copilot (a voice assistant for clinicians). It will now be partnering with hospitals, clinicians, and health organisations to further validate the technology in real-world settings. That’s where the real test will start for the tech giant.

The post Is Microsoft’s AI better than your doctor? appeared first on International Finance.

As of May 2024, the venture has transformed itself into a major name in the logistics sector by designing, manufacturing and operating the world’s largest instant logistics and delivery system that has emerged as the first choice among businesses, governments and consumers, especially in Africa.

Zipline operates on three continents, North America, Africa and Asia, along with seven countries, Rwanda, Ghana, the United States, Nigeria, Japan, Kenya and Cote D’Ivoire (Ivory Coast).

Knowing Things In Detail

Zipline has made over 540,000 deliveries to customers, with an astounding rate of one every 90 seconds. The start-up has flown 60 million autonomous commercial miles, apart from delivering almost five million products, including more than eight million vaccine doses.

Zipline, which originally started its operations in the form of delivering blood and medical products in Rwanda, has since expanded its presence to sectors like food, retail, agriculture, and animal health. Zipline has two platforms, one for long-range delivery and the other for precise home delivery.

Opting for Zipline’s services helps its customers save lives, reduce emissions, increase economic opportunity, and provide new logistics services at scale.

Talking about Zipline’s in-house technology and products, let’s meet Zips, drones that make product deliveries. The product has been tailored for conducting precise deliveries irrespective of the weather conditions.

Zips are of two types: Platform One and Platform Two. Platform One’s operating principle revolves around the venture’s specially designed parachute delivery mechanism, which ensures seamless delivery for consignments carrying delicate and perishable goods. The drones operate on a smart launch and recovery system that also prioritises efficiency and area coverage.

Talking about Platform Two, its operational mechanism involves a low-profile dock, where the drone lands, charges and lowers the delivery droid into the loading portal. The drone uses onboard perception to leave packages exactly where they are supposed to be delivered. They also use multiple sensing technologies, with the ability to monitor 360* airspace. These sensors reach over a mile away, be it day/night, irrespective of the weather conditions, thereby adapting to the delivery routes easily.

Another component of the engineering is “Fleet Deconfliction,” which, aided by the start-up’s fleet management software, autonomously coordinates the traffic of the Zip drones, thereby limiting congestion along the route. The same component also helps the drones to directly communicate with each other.

Zipline also created software, where its business partners access and manage their Zipline services from one dashboard. The start-up’s single and easy-to-use app also makes it easy for people to order whatever they need, and track those orders in real-time. The venture has developed its custom fulfilment apps, which are helping its business partners stay on top of every part of their operation, from shipping to inventory to customer care.

Changing The Logistics Game

Zipline’s drone fleet ensures that customers can track and receive their deliveries in just minutes, from store to door. The drones, travelling at the maximum speed of 70 mph, pick up deliveries within minutes, start their journey, identify a precise and safe delivery spot and conduct their landings. The entire procedure also ensures low operational costs (no surge-spike fees) and higher delivery numbers for the businesses.

While Zipline has partners like “Walmart” and “Michigun Medicine” opting for the start-up’s “Instant Delivery” services, the venture’s “Smart Fulfilment” has clients like the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Pfizer and Gavi.

Talking about “Smart Fulfilment,” it’s basically an end-to-end, storage, packing and drone delivery service offered by the venture. Under it, Zipline has so far delivered over five million products, with its smart warehousing methods having the ability to store goods at variable temperatures.

Zipline stores products according to food, medical, and other safety standards, after orders are received at Zipline’s facility online or with a messaging app. While the venture’s specially trained staff pick out the items and pack them for delivery, the fulfilment experts do a final standard quality and safety check. Zipline’s storage technology is also compliant with regulations which govern food safety and medical-grade cold chain activities.

What are the advantages Zipline’s business partners are getting by availing the start-up’s storage and fulfilment services? Resource efficiency, decreased wastage and overstocking, increased product availability and cost savings. Also, the business partners can ensure expanded coverage for their product deliveries, exploring new clients and growth regions in the process. Zipline also uses digitised planning and forecasting methods, powered by data insights and these help further to keep the overall delivery and fulfilment costs low and competitive.

Changing The Industry Playbooks

As of May 2024, Zipline is delivering products related to a massive gamut of industries, be it public healthcare, hospitality, agriculture or e-commerce. And how is it helping those industries?

Let’s take the healthcare sector for example. Zipline is making healthcare more effective, accessible, and efficient for everyone, from providers and payers to patients and caregivers, through its fast product deliveries. Availing the start-up’s solutions helps a medical facility build a comprehensive healthcare system that can deliver prescriptions within minutes of a telehealth appointment. The medical staff can send chemotherapy cocktails straight to patient homes. They can also transport labs instantly for faster diagnoses and better care.

Apart from ensuring cheaper product deliveries (cheaper than ground logistics), avoiding product loss/spoilage with end-to-end cold chain and ensuring safe delivery with advanced chain-of-custody tools, the hospital can also expand access and build new care capabilities with Zipline’s instant drone delivery.

Zipline connects directly to the medical facility’s operations to make them faster and more efficient. The start-up’s simple API integrations sync with the hospital’s software to make tracking and managing orders easy.

A very good case study here has been Michigan Medicine, a leading academic medical centre, which needed a reliable, scalable way to quickly deliver prescriptions directly to patients and transport lab samples between facilities. Zipline stepped in with its instant logistics technology, which helped the facility to game up its distribution and delivery network. Michigan Medicine has doubled its prescriptions, providing better care for hundreds of thousands of patients in their area.

The Rwanda Success

Talking about Zipline’s game-changing contributions to public healthcare, a mention must be made of the differences made by them in the African country of Rwanda.

With Zipline’s smart fulfilment, deliveries are taking minutes, ensuring healthcare products are not being wasted sitting on a shelf, and people access reliable healthcare. Overall performance and transparency have been driven upwards across the whole ecosystem, from middle-mile logistics to last-mile delivery. Reliable nationwide logistics networks are there with cold-chain capabilities.

In Rwanda, the incidents of wastage of blood products have been reduced by 67%. Maternal deaths due to postpartum haemorrhage in Rwandan hospitals, served by Zipline, have shown a 51% reduction. There is a 42% less likely chance of patients missing vaccination opportunities, all thanks to Zipline.

Zipline’s fulfilment and delivery system ensures safe and efficient transport, less waste, and maximum product effectiveness, even for points of care without on-site refrigeration. The cold-chain warehouses are keeping orders at -20ºC for 12 hours or 2-6ºC for 48 hours, apart from eliminating complexity with simpler packaging requirements.

The venture is also helping Rwandan health workers and supply managers to track, manage, and order inventory easily, apart from accessing smart data to analyse and improve operations over time.

Rwanda was battling product shortages, excess wastage, and supply chain inefficiencies serving its health facilities. Reliance on regional warehouses and bulk ground delivery over difficult terrain meant that commodities could often be out of stock or several hours away.

Zipline turned things into instant and on-demand deliveries to health facilities and points of care across the country, starting with the blood products supply chain. From platelets and plasma to cancer medications, vaccines, and anti-venom, commodities are now centralised at Zipline’s warehouses and distributed as needed in under an hour.

The post Start-up of the Week: The ‘Zipline’ way of serving humanity through drone-powered logistics appeared first on International Finance.

Practicing medicine requires a combination of diagnostic and surgical skills that only highly trained doctors and nurses can reliably offer. Robots have increasingly entered medical settings over the past four decades. Medical robots assist in surgery, streamline hospital logistics, and enable providers to pay direct attention to patients.

Robots exist everywhere, from sci-fi to the automation industry, and are at the stage of revolutionary participation in healthcare. The notion that robots perform tireless tasks, freeing medical staff from routine tasks, is best suited for medical assistance. In addition, the involvement of robots makes medical procedures safer and less expensive for patients.

A medical robot is a robotic system used in medical science. For example, an accurate computer-assisted surgery uses technology with telemanipulators. It is a robotic arm with an endoscope, while the other two manipulator arms have interchangeable tools, such as scissors and grippers. Such surgeries are also called master-slave telemanipulator systems, where surgeons operate programmable machines using computer-aided technology.

Types of Robots in Healthcare
The healthcare industry uses the following types of robots in low-risk activities. The da Vinci System, a commonly used generic surgical robot that focuses on a wide range of surgical procedures in urological, bariatric, and gynecological, is the most widely used robot in healthcare. In addition, Stryker’s MAKO system specialises in orthopedic surgery, especially knee replacement.

Surgical robots either allow surgeries to be performed with better accuracy than unsubsidized human surgeons or allow remote surgeries where human surgeons are not possible with the patient. Robotic surgery is a type of surgery performed using a computerised system.

Pharmaceutical robotic systems help in dispensing drugs in retail pharmacies and help read the information sent by the hospital information systems. They also update the status of the prescribed medications in the system. In addition to scanning and using bar codes to verify medicines, these robots can package, store, and distribute prescription packages.

Rehabilitation robots facilitate and support the lives of people with disabilities, the elderly, or those with impaired organ function. They are also helpful for rehabilitation and related procedures, such as training and therapy.

Telepresence robots allow off-site medical professionals to move from remote locations, look around, communicate, and engage. Ava Robotics, an iRobot spinoff, are intelligent telepresence robots deployed at the hospital. They enable isolated doctors at home to be present in emergency rooms and allow nurses to see patients.

Disinfection robots can sterilise entire room using vibrating ultraviolet light. They are used to fight the Ebola virus and help kill microorganisms using special UV disinfection techniques.

In addition, with future advanced technology working on nanobots, small robots are on track to help treat complex diseases such as cancer, type 1 diabetes, or infection.

How do Robots Help in Healthcare?
The SwabBot robot, developed to conduct COVID-19 swab tests, has recently taken a step forward in the healthcare domain to facilitate medical procedures.

Until recently, robotics has begun to share regular work in medicine. For example, some robots go hand in hand with specialist doctors for surgery and help in the operation theatre. These collaborative robots, called cobots, are for direct human-robot interaction in the shared space.

Cobot, for example, can cut a patient’s bones more accurately and safely using a laser beam. Here, the robot is trained to minimise bone and soft tissue damage, which helps in faster recovery.

The robotic hair transplants promoted in the health market are credited with accuracy and speed. However, they rely on cobots for proper surgery in small places and transporting dangerous substances.

Robotic medical assistants monitor critical patient statistics and alert nurses when a human presence is required in the room. These robotic assistants automatically enter information into the patient’s electronic health records.

You can now see robotic vehicles carrying supplies through the corridors of the hospital. Robots are also helping with surgery, allowing doctors to perform surgery with smaller incisions instead of inch-long incisions. Robotics is also having a significant impact in other areas of medicine.

Mechanical robots first came into practical use in surgical settings in the 1980s. However, there was full development in the technology only after 1990. Puma 560, for example, in 1985, found the cannula to be in the right place for a brain biopsy.

Subsequently, specialised camera-guided robotic surgical systems, such as Neuro-Mate, Minerva, and robot-assisted microsurgery systems, have been used in brain surgery settings. In addition, accurate-engineered micro-mechanical robotic appendages have proven beneficial in surgical settings that require highly accurate positioning for patient safety and operational effectiveness.

Robotic surgical systems, such as one named “da Vinci Surgical System,” are beneficial in a wide variety of surgeries, including spinal, neck, head, and urological surgeries.

The lengthy time of the laparoscopic procedure makes surgery in urology very expensive. Surgeons use remote-controlled surgical instruments to reduce the severity of necessary surgical cuts. In addition, they give the doctor better control over the procedure at hand.

Robots in pharmacy assist pharmacists with many repetitive tasks, from prescribing a drug to delivering it without error.

The use of Robots in pharmacy has grown. The Children’s Specialty Hospital, Al Jalila, one of Dubai’s best pediatric specialty hospitals, became the first to use robotics in its outpatient pharmacy. The authority is looking to automate its inpatient pharmacy workflow by extending the benefit of Pharmacy Robotics. Generally, the robotic arms can pick the right capsules, medicinal packets or collect and label the medicine.

You can use the robot to deliver blood or urine samples and other items to the appropriate hospital staff.. In addition, robotics find applications in phlebotomy, where they can help collect blood samples and label them accurately, which saves time and reduces the workload on nurses.

Self-propelled robots work with humans to deliver food to patients who have to live in seclusion in their own homes, effectively eliminating the risk of spreading the infection.

Rehabilitation robots serve patients of stroke and those having neurological disorders. They help patients to perform rehabilitation exercises. While engaged in these activities, these robots provide a video gaming experience using 3D video technology.

Robot-assisted rehabilitation therapy helps the patient recover faster. It also allows caregivers to undertake heavy-duty tasks, such as transporting elderly patients during rehabilitation care.

The robotic system acquires patient-specific data like power used, range of motion, balancing capacity, etc., contributing to customising the treatment based on the individual’s progress.

The exoskeleton is helpful for rehabilitation therapy procedures such as walking training to help paralyzed patients recover after a stroke, brain injury, or spinal cord injury. Soft robotic gloves are another example of a wearable robot designed to aid individuals unable to hold objects due to chronic neuromuscular or musculoskeletal disorders.

For example, Cyberdyne’s Hybrid Assistive Limb (HAL) exoskeleton, which uses sensors mounted on the skin to detect small electrical signals in a patient’s body and respond to joint movements, is designed to help rehabilitate patients with lower limb disorders. These disorders include spinal cord injuries and strokes. Although expensive, these devices are life-saving.

The shortage of healthcare professionals and the lack of special care in remote areas are the main factors for using robots in telemedicine. Telerobotics, which are modeled as human-sized robots, facilitate remote patient monitoring, communication, and timely and specialised patient care.

Patients in remote areas can access high-quality emergency consultations for stroke, cardiovascular, and burn services. In addition, advisors can remotely log into robotic systems and clinical data and act on alerts.

Functions of robots include non-contact-based temperature measurement through infrared light and sending and receiving patient photographs to assist the doctor in the diagnosis.

These robots can move around the hospital, supply themselves wherever they are wanted, and monitor patients in quarantine due to infectious diseases. If patients need urgent help, the robot acts as a telephone portal for doctors.

Usually, several items are displaced daily in an average hospital setting, including batches of medicine, meals, linen clothing, and garbage pounds. As a result, healthcare workers often have to commute to and from the hospital. Autonomous robots meant for mobile transport can tackle many of these tasks. These robots help reduce waiting time and work stress. These robots can navigate freely throughout the hospital using sensors. Robots are also used to carry patients. Such robots are highly beneficial for the care of elderly patients.

Challenges to Tackle
The adoption of robots in the healthcare domain is slow. Self-guided vehicles require installing navigation equipment in a dedicated hall or entire facilities, such as floor tracks. Other robots operate with the help of a laser-drawn map of the hospital, which includes elevators, turns, and automatic doors. This process is also quite expensive.

Robotics requires a relatively high capital investment that delays the adoption of this technology. Hospitals with limited bed capacity cannot invest in automated technology for ROI. Evolving technological advances in the future may add cost to sophisticated robots. Then the requirement of technology-driven infrastructure. In addition, technical skills and space limitations hinder the robotic process. Also, reliability concerns are present. Uncertainty exists in complex processes. However, the increased adoption of AI technology is making them more reliable. Robotics is an ever-evolving domain. Healthcare organisations may avoid adopting it first and opt for a wait-and-watch approach.

Training human staff for robotic tasks is costly. However, the goal of robotic technology is to complete human skills, reduce workload, and enable professionals.

Can Robots Replace Medical Crew?
Though robots provide more accuracy, minor damage, and easier and faster access, they are not a replacement for surgeons. Robotic assistants cannot replace basic human contact. The surgeon is always in complete control of the system. Instead, robots are for enhancing the skills of the professionals, improving their efficiency, and reducing their workload.

Although technology is expensive and some have taken years to implement, robots are changing healthcare. Organizations are adopting robotic technology to automate their work in healthcare. It is worthwhile for medical professionals to look at robotics’ vast potential and future benefits in healthcare. They are exploring ways to utilize innovative but mature robotic technology and engage in it to automate their hospitals and medical services.

The post How is Robotics Improving Healthcare? appeared first on International Finance.

The company was founded in 2016 and aims to increase trust and transparency in healthcare by providing greater access to verified patient reviews. Platforms like Glassdoor and Trustpilot exists to help consumers to build trust in businesses while Doctify is working in the healthcare review space which is considered one of the biggest markets by value worldwide. So far the company has played a significant role in connecting over four million people with 25,000 healthcare providers in the last five years. The clients of the company include prime hospital groups such as HCA, Royal BromptonHospital and Priory Group.

Stephanie Elts, chief executive officer of Doctify while addressing the media said, “We are thrilled to partner with investors to fuel our continued growth and accomplish Doctify’s mission of helping 30 million people across the globe to find the right specialist by 2023.” She also added that they believe by empowering providers to capture better patient feedback with the technology they can drive tangible improvement in the healthcare sector.

Doctify is currently present in the UK, Austria and the UAE and is determined to plan further growth in Germany, the largest healthcare market in Europe. Since the country also passed the Digital Healthcare Act (DVG), with the digital transformations, it is to become one of the leading providers of patient-centred digital healthcare.

The post Doctify raises $7.5 mn in a round led by Keen Venture Partners appeared first on International Finance.

The Kingdom’s National Transformation Plan envisages a larger share for the private sector in the healthcare spending and the nationwide deployment of digital healthcare technologies. The Saudi Arabian ministry of health targets at least 70 percent of the local population having unified electronic healthcare records (EHR) by 2020. Equally important is the reform of the primary healthcare system focusing on improved integration with the national healthcare system while ensuring continuity in services offered.

Among the strategic initiatives mentioned by the NTP are increase in training, both nationally and internationally, improvements in infrastructure, facilities management, and safety standards; identifying additional sources of revenue, as well as investing in improving the skills of healthcare providers. The Ministry of Health in Saudi Arabia is also interested in increasing public private partnerships through the privatisation of at least one of the medical cities and the localisation of the pharmaceutical industry.

Foreign investors interested in investing in healthcare in Saudi Arabia might find opportunities in setting up additional private medical facilities, healthcare education, deployment of digital healthcare technologies or healthtech, and local manufacture of pharmaceuticals. In an exclusive interview with International Finance, Emmeline Roodenburg, Head of Healthcare for KPMG in the Saudi Levant Cluster talks about the readiness of the Saudi healthcare system for digital technology deployment and the challenges facing Saudi healthcare.

In an earlier role, Emmeline Roodenburg was one of the lead directors in a $100 million KPMG engagement to transform New York state’s healthcare system in the US. Her areas of expertise include international health systems with a focus on care system redesign, including value-based payment systems, provider transformation, life sciences and change management.

International Finance: What are the current barriers to IoT healthcare implementation in Saudi Arabia and how can they be overcome?

Emmeline Roodenburg Technical, administrative, and legal barriers exist. Technical barriers are the full implementation of health information systems that are automated and interoperable at national level, between emerging clusters and providers (and patients!) within the clusters. Central coordination is the key. Many countries in the world would like to press the ‘reset button’ when it comes to IoT healthcare implementation.

Saudi Arabia actually gets the opportunity to be the architect of a well-functioning system and should (will) grab that chance with both hands. The administrative challenges, that are inevitable in any IoT implementation, should be tackled through cultural training and development of healthcare staff to adopt and promote the use of IoT, especially with regards to patient care. Legal barriers, as anywhere else in the world, need clear policies on data sharing, privacy and recovery, and backup plans on information systems and the robustness of those systems.

With the increasing adoption of technology-driven healthcare in Saudi Arabia, how will healthcare organisations assuage consumers concerns on issues such as data safety?

As said earlier, clear policies on how data is shared with transparency of guidelines and a national stance on these is important. However, we need to be cautious about overregulation. The downside is that development of algorithms, which lead to smarter, targeted personalised care, can be slowed down if data protection is getting the overhand.

How do patient management systems in Saudi Arabia compare with the developed world?

Saudi Arabia is rapidly catching up with executing patient management systems, however, the implementation of full electronic health records that are used for patient care are still not in place, especially, where it matters the most such as in primary and community care. This includes proper coded records that allow for population health management to be implemented and financial mechanisms aligned with quality metrics.

Saudi Arabia has seen a change in pattern of prevalent diseases from communicable diseases to chronic diseases. How can the healthcare system in Saudi Arabia meet the increasing demand for chronic disease treatment?

Saudi Arabia is moving to population health management systems that will be essential to managing chronic diseases. As data begins to be gathered robustly on prevalence of diseases and segmentation of patients becomes possible, the Kingdom can proactively target patients. Using technology to drive these interventions, such as digital behavioural management programmes supplemented with offline care management systems, will achieve better outcomes and better patient satisfaction.

Crucially, and I understand this will take time, but specifically on prevention and treatment of non-communicable diseases, I am a strong believer in alternative payment systems that reward providers for their added value, the patient outcomes. Finally, consumers or patients can be incentivised to take their health more into their own hands.

How important is Public Healthcare Centre reforms to the improvement of healthcare outcomes in Saudi Arabia?

Extremely important as the areas of reform are geared towards a shift to population health management, involving patients in their care and shifting care to the most appropriate settings.

Are the healthcare information systems in Saudi Arabia mature enough for the implementation of the latest healthcare technologies? If not, how can the gap be closed?

They are not currently. The trick is not to go for the simplest systems that are just good enough, but to go for the best new-generation systems that are fully interoperable – not just from the system point of view – but also from the patient perspective in how consumers of healthcare expect to interact with their health systems through their mobile phones and wearables and apps. Systems need the backbone and infrastructure to be robustly developed so that machine learning, remote diagnostics, and treatments can be superimposed.

What are the challenges to the deployment of healthtech systems in Saudi Arabian hospitals and how can these challenges be overcome?

There are many, but one of the biggest challenges remains the cultural shift that busy healthcare workers will have to make to get systems integrated in their daily way of working. The best systems fail when healthcare staff is not engaged in the implementation. A definite digital dip occurs when new systems are implemented and it is essential to stay close to the difficulties front line staff face and help iron those out as quickly as possible.

Has the Saudi Telemedicine Network brought any discernible improvements to healthcare outcomes in Saudi Arabia?

We know that systems that have a good data and telecom coverage generally achieve better universal health coverage. This is the same for Saudi Arabia.

What challenges do an increasing population and ageing bring to the Saudi healthcare system? What investments are needed to meet these challenges?

An ageing population brings the challenge of increasing comorbid conditions and frailty that need a different healthcare response for the 21st century. The cost of care goes up, so keeping care in the right setting which is in the community, and wrapping interventions that allow for keeping independence at home with supportive structures like multidisciplinary teams that are geared and trained to support people at home will be needed, supported through technology. In addition to improved home and community care, investment is needed in long-term care, specifically nursing homes.

What does the private healthcare sector need to do to meet the government’s target of raising the private healthcare’s share of healthcare expenditure to 35 percent from 25 percent?

The shift in shares is a combination from a shift from public to private, but also private providers simply offering access to care and services that didn’t exist before. The biggest contribution that the private healthcare sector can make to fill the gaps in care that are going to be required in 21st century care such as investment in remote and point of care diagnostics and monitoring, offering different models of care like home multidisciplinary teams, technology-enabled care coordination of chronic comorbid conditions, investment in artificial intelligence and personalised medicine, digital pathology and at the high-end training and development of professionals, to be able to use robotic interventions and new treatment techniques. The government, in return, is going to have (to continue to) fulfil its part to help create the right environment and payment mechanisms to allow this to happen, in collaboration through public private partnerships.

How can the government increase the rate of Saudisation in the healthcare sector?

The biggest challenge that modern day medicine faces today is going to be the skills gap and the healthcare workforce shortages. Even after optimisation of the current facilities, the gaps are dazzling. A skills transfer is going to be needed quickly as other countries rapidly industrialise and keep their workforce at home. The beauty of Saudi Arabia is that the female workforce participation is growing rapidly. I am not saying it will be easy, but it brings great opportunity for Saudisation in the healthcare sector.

The post Saudi Arabia: Private providers should fill 21st century healthcare gaps appeared first on International Finance.

Visy Valsan

September 17, 2014: The US News and World Report’s 2015 Best Colleges ranking released earlier this September is a handy guide for those seeking a degree in US’ elitist universities.

The rankings carry data on nearly 1,800 schools and draw a full list of national universities, top graduation colleges, medical schools, law colleges, research institutes etc. with complete information on SAT/ACT scores, scholarships, grants and graduation rates.

Schools listed in US News’ ‘National Universities’ category offer students a full range of undergraduate majors, Master’s and Ph.D. programs. Among the top five in this category (in order of its rankings) are Princeton, Harvard, Yale, Columbia and Stanford Universities – all of which have a robust student enrollment above 5,000 and average freshman retention rate above 96%.

The report’s rankings also cover the ‘2015 Best Graduate Schools’ where students can pursue disciplines like law, business, medicine, education and engineering, besides a whole variety of specialised courses.

The best B-schools

While Princeton University tops the chart as the No.1 National University, Harvard University (rated second) seems to be the favourite pick among students for its top-ranked B-School, Medical School, Graduate Education School, School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Law School and John F. Kennedy School of Government.

This 17^th century college located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, not only has an extensive library system, which houses the oldest collection in the United States, but also the largest private collection in the world. The US News’ report also reveals Harvard to have the largest endowment (of any school) in the world.

Other top-featuring B-Schools include Stanford University, University of Pennsylvania (started by Benjamin Franklin), University of Chicago (Booth) and MIT’s Sloan School of Management and Northwestern University (Kellogg) in Evanston.

Eminent law schools

Scoring high with an endless list featuring political leaders, US’ law schools are not just places where law is taught but also put to good use. Yale University (Connecticut), Harvard University, Stanford University (California) and Columbia University (Manhattan) all boast of a rich law curriculum that help students achieve their goals.

While Harvard Law School’s well known face is US President Barack Obama, Yale can boast of former US presidents Gerald Ford and Bill Clinton. Former presidents Franklin D Roosevelt and Theodore Roosevelt, and nine justices who served the Supreme Court of the United States all passed out from Columbia Law School. Full year programs in these schools are expensive and tuition fee often range between $52,000 and $57,000.

M.S. in engineering sciences & research

Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in Cambridge is the preferred destination for students wanting to pursue scientific and technological research. MIT’s graduate schools — School of Engineering and Sloan School of Management (also the best place to earn a specialisation in Supply Chain Management) – are highly ranked.

That apart, the school covers exhaustive courses in economics, psychology, biology, chemistry, earth sciences, physics and mathematics. Research expenditures at MIT have typically exceeded $650 million each year, with funding coming from government agencies, the report adds.

Other top schools known for engineering sciences are Stanford University, University of California-Berkeley, California Institute of Technology, Carnegie Mellon University and Georgia Institute of Technology. However, MIT and Stanford continue their undisputed dominance as best schools to learn computer and mechanical engineering.

Best medical schools

The US News’ report classifies medical schools into two broad categories: Research and Primary Care. For those looking at pursuing research, Harvard, Stanford, Johns Hopkins University, University of California – San Francisco and the University of Pennsylvania would be the best places to apply. Student enrollments are usually in the range 400-700 and courses cost below $50,000.

Johns Hopkins University has several top ratings for its courses: #2 in AIDS, #3 in Drug and Alcohol Abuse, #2 in Geriatrics and #1 in Internal Medicine. The student-to-faculty ratio here is 5.6:1. According to the report, students can earn a traditional M.D., a Ph.D., or both in about eight years. There are also dual degree programs for an M.D. /M.P.H. (Master of Public Health) and an M.D. /M.B.A. through other university departments.

The Stanford School of Medicine offers master’s degree programs, including biomedical informatics, epidemiology, and human genetics and genetic counseling. Students can get clinical experience in the nearby Stanford Medical Center, which includes Stanford Hospital and Clinics, in addition to the school’s various partner facilities, the report finds.

Other courses

By far, one of the most expensive courses listed in the US News’ report is Babson College’s entrepreneurship course from The F.W. Olin Graduate School of Business, which costs a whopping $94,836 per program (full time) and part-time at $1,498 per credit. Other schools like Stanford, MIT and Harvard offer similar courses but for a far lesser price: $56,000 per program (full time). This is surprising because Babson College is ranked only at #65 in the Best Business Schools category led by Harvard.

Babson College offers a host of disciplines like accounting, economics, entrepreneurship, finance, general management, health care administration, technology and the like. At graduation, 55.4 per cent of Babson’s graduates of the full-time program are employed. Some of the notable Olin alumni include Stephen Spinelli Jr., cofounder of automotive services company Jiffy Lube International and Mir Ibrahim Rahman, cofounder and CEO of GEO TV Network, Pakistan’s most prominent media organisation.

University of Miami, ranked 48 in the 2015 edition of Best Colleges is a well-known research institution where opportunities are said to begin at the undergraduate level. The University of Washington receives a hefty amount of federal funding each year to further its mission as a public research institution. Every year, the school hosts an Undergraduate Research Symposium for students to present their work to the community.

For students scouting for cheaper options and more facilities, head to the University of Texas — Austin — one of the largest schools in the US. The college’s Accounting studies and degrees in Information Systems are highly ranked and also are cheaper especially for international students.

Nirmal Kollara, an Information Systems student with the University of Texas-Austin, says, “Texas University offers one of the cheapest courses among the top choices. Their course fee is just $9,000 per semester and its course in Information Systems is well known. Also, Texas is one of the cheapest places to live in the US. Among Indian students, it features as the top choice, especially students with GRE scores 320+ (out of 340). Most of the students taking this course are Indians. Then come the American students.”

Liberal Arts

The rankings extend to cover Liberal Arts Colleges as well, placing Williams College, Amherst College and Swarthmore College in the top three positions respectively. Most of these schools offer traditional Oxford-style lectures and a rigorous academic environment besides a wide variety of liberal arts programs to choose from.

Also featuring in this list are the United States Naval Academy and the United States Military Academy, which carry no fee and provide cadets with a monthly stipend during all four years they stay at the academy.

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