Source: AFP
Medical device maker Philips is betting on innovation as artificial intelligence (AI) transforms the healthcare industry, its chief executive told AFP in an interview on Tuesday, as the company looks to turn the page on a massive recall of faulty sleep ventilators.
The challenge facing health care systems is “how do we care for more patients in the future, with fewer staff, doctors, nurses and technicians,” said Roy Jakobs.
Expanding hospitals and healthcare systems are a relatively common phenomenon around the world, and technology can help provide solutions, said Jakobs, who will take the reins at the Dutch medical equipment maker in 2022.
“For example, a nurse spends an average of 20 minutes an hour on administrative tasks,” he noted.
Meanwhile, radiologists spend most of their time ruling out simple negative cases, and AI could help them “spend more time on complex cases where it takes all their time and effort to actually make the right and accurate diagnosis.” ยป.
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Jakobs said artificial intelligence is not new and is already being used.
“But the next generation of artificial intelligence has much more powerful methods of application,” he said.
The increasing use of technology is creating reams of sensitive and valuable health data, which has raised concerns about its protection and preservation across national borders when stored in the cloud.
Defective sleep ventilators
Philips has a development partnership with Amazon Web Services, but Jakobs said the company is agnostic about cloud storage.
“So we work with any cloud provider,” he said. “And in China, it’s Chinese cloud providers. In Europe, sometimes it’s local providers or they’re big tech.”
Jakobs said health data should be viewed as a “tremendous opportunity” for both patients and efficiency.
“Because the more we know about patients … the better we can treat the patient for a better outcome,” he said.
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As of 2021, Philips is fighting a series of lawsuits over its DreamStation machines for sleep apnea, a disorder in which breathing stops and starts during sleep.
Users risked inhaling or swallowing pieces of toxic soundproofing foam that could cause irritation or headaches. The US Food and Drug Administration said this probably posed health risks, although the company later said independent tests showed it was “unlikely” to harm patients.
The crisis pushed Philips into losses of more than $2 billion in 2021 and 2022 after it recalled 15 million machines, but it has since reached agreements to compensate users in the United States and with regulators.
“This was a very important milestone for us because it gives clarity on the way forward,” Jakobs said.
He also said Philips was “down to the wire” with the recalls, for which he again apologized and said the company was in the process of resolving the situation.
Source: AFP