Microsoft adds Cloud for Healthcare data and AI enhancements
New tools announced this week enable Microsoft Cloud for Healthcare users to access, analyze and visualize data-driven insights across the enterprise via Fabric architecture, find multilingual support for text analytics, and three new artificial intelligence models in to use Azure.
The cloud provider also said more users will have the opportunity to try out Azure AI Health Bot, a generative artificial intelligence assistant that can extract information from unstructured text, while select partners using Fabric will have the opportunity to preview it of the anonymization services.
WHY IT’S IMPORTANT
Microsoft announced Tuesday that new data and AI capabilities will help healthcare organizations improve patient experiences, gain new insights and better secure healthcare information, while also laying the foundation for a unified approach to healthcare data and organizational AI strategies .
“Healthcare data continues to grow at a rapid pace and organizations are struggling to keep up with higher volume, diversity and speed,” said Alysa Taylor, corporate vice president of Azure + Industry, in the company’s release Blog Tuesday.
Text Analytics for Healthcare can now provide insightful insights in six additional languages in addition to English: Spanish, French, German, Italian, Portuguese, and Hebrew.
Machine learning-driven deidentification services in Microsoft Fabric and Azure Health Data Services now provide healthcare organizations with the ability to anonymize medical data extracted from clinical notes, messages, or clinical trial studies while maintaining clinical relevance and complying with HIPAA privacy requirements.
The AI automatically extracts, redacts, or replaces more than 30 entities from unstructured text, including HIPAA’s 18 protected health information identifiers.
In the future, Microsoft plans to add deidentification services for structured, imaging and medical data.
With the expansion of Azure AI Health Bot, more healthcare organizations can build tailored generative AI chatbot experiences for administrative, clinical workloads, and patient experiences in the cloud.
Three new integrated models in Azure AI Health Insights, available in preview, create patient schedules based on clinical data and evidence, provide patient-friendly versions of clinical notes and reports, and improve radiology workflows, Taylor said.
THE BIGGER TREND
Microsoft has entered into a number of AI partnerships with healthcare organizations in recent months.
Late last month, Mayo Clinic announced that the health system’s physicians and other clinical staff would test new generative AI applications as part of the Microsoft 365 Copilot Early Access Program.
Exploring opportunities to combine LLMs with productivity apps could ease the burden on providers.
“Using AI-powered technology will enhance Mayo Clinic’s ability to drive healthcare transformation while focusing on what matters most – providing the best possible care to our patients,” Cris Ross, Mayo’s chief information officer, said in a statement .
Dr. David Rhew, global chief medical officer and vice president of healthcare at Microsoft, said in August that another partnership with Duke Health would explore implementing responsible AI principles.
The aim is to “ensure that AI is used safely, effectively and in an unbiased and transparent manner,” he said in a statement.
ON THE RECORD
“In the new age of AI, the importance of data continues to grow as companies realize that without a solid data strategy, they are only scratching the surface of what is possible with AI,” Taylor said in the announcement.
Andrea Fox is managing editor of Healthcare IT News.
Email: afox@himss.org
Healthcare IT News is a publication of HIMSS Media.