Last week, GE Healthcare announced its new edge computing technology, Edison HealthLink, to help fulfill the needs of healthcare workers across all specialties. According to GE Healthcare, the new tech should enable healthcare workers to “collect, analyze, and act upon critical data closer to the source.” So far, the platform includes ten applications.
Medical devices can connect to Edison so health systems can obtain software updates without the need for purchasing new equipment. In theory, this can greatly extend the life of existing resources without placing further financial burdens on the hospital system. The HIPPA-compliant system offers connectivity, data aggregation, AI algorithm orchestration, and advanced visualization.
“COVID-19 has accelerated industry-wide trends with implications for the future of care delivery. It’s time to apply these trends and use them to modernize the current health system infrastructure,” said Amit Phadnis, GE Healthcare Chief Digital Officer. “As more care delivery becomes virtual and as more healthcare data moves to the cloud, technologies like Edison HealthLink provide a bridge, allowing devices to operate on-premise, at the edge and in the cloud.”
Edge computing provides much faster, high-speed services than the cloud can provide. This can be essential for countless emergency situations. In their statement, GE Healthcare gave the example of a patient entering an emergency department with stroke symptoms. Two million brain cells can die per minute during a stroke. In a situation like this where every single second counts, post-processing software like what’s available via Edison HealthLink could easily mean the difference between life or death. Edison HealthLink enables providers to access and analyze brain scans instantly, without waiting for the data to make its way to the cloud and back.
The platform currently utilizes 10 applications, including Mural Virtual Care; TrueFidelity image reconstruction; AIRx, an AI-fueled workflow tool used to improve consistency in MRI brain scans; Automated Lesion Segmentation on LOGIQ E10, which helps remove the need for the manual measurement of lesions identified by ultrasound; and several more.
Edge computing is vital to the future of healthcare and health IT, as medical technologies continue to be created at ever more impressive and efficient speeds.
