Singapore is one of the leading users of AI in healthcare globally, particularly in areas such as disease detection and improving patient outcomes.
What motivates this important achievement is effective collaboration between health stakeholders, particularly between providers and the Ministry of Health, whose vision of an interconnected health system based on digital technologies is carried by its national agency of health technologies, Synapxe.
Andy Ta, Director of Data Analytics and AI (DNA) and Chief Data Officer at Synapxe, spoke with Healthcare IT News on how the organization is pursuing AI integrations in public health settings, highlighting two new AI projects – AI Medical Imaging Platform for Singapore Public Healthcare (AimSG) and Assisted Explanation of Chronic Diseases Using AI (ACE-AI).
He shared what drives them to further innovate, particularly in the field of AI, and its immediate but cautious applications to solving health problems of national concern.
Ta also spoke about health technology trends in the new year and explained where he thinks generative AI, which exploded in popularity last year, will bring the most benefits to healthcare health.
Q. Alongside its 15th anniversary celebration, Synapxe announced two major AI initiatives/projects: ACE-AI and AimSG. Where are you now with both projects?
A. At Synapxe, we are guided by the Health IT Blueprint (HITMAP) to build common data analytics capabilities to gain insights about our population to enable earlier disease detection and more informed care. personalized to patients. As the nation’s health technology agency, Synapxe has deployed various AI-driven initiatives aimed at creating intelligent technology solutions that help improve the lives of millions of people every day, everywhere. This year, we are excited to launch two such initiatives, which were announced during our 15th anniversary celebration.
ObjectiveSG was launched as a new platform to enable public healthcare organizations to seamlessly integrate validated and credible AI imaging solutions into their existing clinical workflow, thereby improving diagnostic capabilities and increasing productivity. ‘efficiency. This vendor-neutral platform developed by Synapxe, SingHealth and NTT Data can support imaging AI models from different sources for various imaging modalities, which was not possible before. AI imaging models automate the analysis of medical images with speed and accuracy, enabling more efficient triage of patients with urgent care needs and helping radiologists generate radiology reports more efficiently and accurately. This not only helps improve the quality of clinicians’ diagnoses, but can also reduce unnecessary tests and procedures. This platform was recently piloted at Changi General Hospital (CGH) and Singapore General Hospital, and we are monitoring its progress ahead of possible implementation in other healthcare facilities.
As part of Healthier SG and to help GPs discover personalized health insights about their patients, Synapxe has developed the country’s first assisted explanation of chronic diseases using AI (ACE-AI).. ACE-AI aims to be a digital assistant for doctors in managing patients’ chronic diseases. It leverages neural networks and explainable AI techniques to identify risk factors and automate risk calculations to detect early signs and risks of chronic diseases over the next three years. This helps doctors manage their patients’ chronic illnesses. ACE-AI is currently being tested in 20 selected general practitioners.
Q. As a “connector,” how does Synapxe work with stakeholders to promote AI adoption amid concerns about security/privacy, lack of digital skills/literacy and other problems? What is your strategy to promote the adoption of AI in public healthcare?
A. Synapxe connects people and systems to power a healthier Singapore. We collaborate and support the Ministry of Health in achieving national health care policies and outcomes, including the Public Health Care Blueprint and IT Architecture, enabling technological innovation and professional development health technologies.
AI has been rapidly adopted across industries, including healthcare. It is essential to consider a facility’s load, capacity and users – clinicians, healthcare providers and patients – when implementing AI. Although still a nascent technology, AI has the potential to automate many tasks to improve efficiency and save money for businesses. As we are still in the process of developing and understanding its full capabilities, this also presents an AI talent shortage challenge. At Synapxe, we bridge the knowledge gap by mobilizing talent through collaborations with industry partners and actively engaging our employees and potential candidates in our digitalization journey by allowing them to try new technologies. These are in line with our vision and goal to adopt different technologies, including AI.
Q. How does innovation play a role in your current and other AI projects?
A. Product innovations at Synapxe are guided by our long-term national healthcare strategy and national adversity.
Adversity can be a powerful catalyst for innovation and creative thinking. A good example to share is the launch of Nosocomial pneumonia and COVID-19 artificial intelligence predictive engine (CAPE), which was developed with the CGH team during the COVID-19 pandemic. CAPE is an AI-based tool that can predict the severity of pneumonia in patients, including COVID-19 patients, based on a chest X-ray. This is one of the ongoing projects that allows clinicians to quickly predict the expected severity of pneumonia in a patient and effectively provide care interventions. Today, pneumonia is one of the leading causes of death worldwide and the leading cause of deterioration of COVID-19.
Another ongoing project being implemented is the Active monitoring system for adverse reactions to drugs and vaccines (ASAR) by Synapxe and the Health Sciences Authority of Singapore (HSA). In an effort to improve HSA’s adverse event monitoring program, ASAR was launched as the first national application that analyzes structured health data and unstructured clinical notes from all public acute care hospitals to detect and validate drug safety signals to protect public health in Singapore.
Q. What is the status of AI adoption in Singapore’s healthcare landscape? What has changed in the way it is received/implemented in clinics/hospitals?
A. AI is increasingly being used across the healthcare continuum – from administration to clinical decision support, to increase system efficiency and improve patient outcomes. Given its ability to streamline processes and increase efficiency, we expect it to become more common in the coming years as technology advances.
Singapore is known for having one of the highest adoption rates of AI among markets in the world, with the technology being integrated into many different medical practices locally to improve disease detection and outcomes for patients. patients. Although it has many applications, the adoption of AI in healthcare has been described as a turning point, particularly its ability to detect abnormalities in medical imaging such as chest x-rays, mammograms and brain CT scans.
At Synapxe, we are already integrating AI into a number of different initiatives, including AimSG and ACE.AI, as mentioned above, with many more in the works.
Despite the positive shift in attitudes towards AI technology, some concerns remain, including the medical and legal implications of AI taking over some roles traditionally played by humans, as well as others risks and ethical concerns related to the implementation of AI.
Q. What trends in healthcare AI do you think will continue in the new year and years to come? What about the new trends to expect in 2024?
A. In 2024, we will see greater adoption of technology, particularly in the area of AI. In combination with predictive analytics, we have begun to enable early detection of health risks and trend analysis to safeguard the health and well-being of the population.
Companies across various industries are also looking to improve efficiency and save money using AI. Currently, many users and companies are generating the first iteration of results, but generative AI has the potential to automate many tasks and be a useful concierge to solving a human problem, for example by personalizing medications for individuals depending on their genetic makeup.
