Dutch hospitals adopt Pacmed’s AI software to improve patient care
Amsterdam company Pacmed has teamed up with hospitals in Amsterdam, Utrecht and Rotterdam to deploy its AI-powered decision support software to improve efficiency and quality of intensive care.
Dutch hospitals adopt AI technology
AI software by Amsterdam company Pacmed will be deployed at hospitals across the Netherlands to improve intensive care. Using patient data, the software will help clinicians make decisions about when IC patients can be safely transferred to another department at the right time for further recovery.
Data-driven technology is seen as a more sustainable long-term solution to scaling up IC capacity alone, and is expected to reduce the average length of stay and number of re-admissions in intensive care units.
“Care for critically ill patients must be organised in a smarter and more efficient way, without losing sight of quality. COVID-19 has made this need painfully clear,” a press statement from Santeon, which runs the participating hospitals, said.
In collaboration with doctors
The software uses a model developed with Amsterdam University Medical Centre and in collaboration with doctors. The model used data from thousands of admissions to learn which combination of characteristics determines whether a patient is at risk of readmission or death. The collaboration will be started with OLVG in Amsterdam, Maasstad Hospital in Rotterdam and the St Antonius Hospital in Utrecht.
“As Santeon, we want to be an accelerator of innovation. Innovation, and thus improving the quality and accessibility of care, is also more important than ever in the IC," said Pieter de Bey, director of Santeon.
Amsterdam-based Pacmed is the only Dutch organisation to have a CE-certified medical device for ICU use based on machine learning. Co-director Wouter Kroese said: “In this collaboration, we are taking steps that will enable hospitals throughout the Netherlands to deploy data-driven technology in an accessible manner and to allow it to achieve maximum and sustainable social value.”
AI innovation in Amsterdam
The collaboration marks a big step for AI adoption in healthcare systems. As one of the most AI-ready cities in the world, and with a rich life sciences and health sector, Amsterdam is a hotbed of collaborations between academia, hospitals, startups and larger companies to bring innovations into practice.
The AI sector in Amsterdam is largely committed to truly improving citizens' lives. Through the AI Technology for People programme, the potential of AI technologies is being focused on areas where responsible AI can add social value. For example the AI for Oncology lab run by the University of Amsterdam and Netherlands Cancer Institute is developing algorithms to treat cancer more effectively. Last year, Amsterdam UMC researchers developed a world-first AI algorithm that detects kidney donor rejection.