GE Healthcare launches tech for critical data access

GE Healthcare has launched Edison HealthLink, new advanced computing technology that allows clinicians to collect, analyse and act upon critical data closer to its source. 

The global medtech firm has created this new solution to improve the efficiency of data analysis in the cloud, particularly surrounding issues with bandwidth, network and latency. 

This is particularly important in cases where a matter of seconds could determine the outcome for a patient, for instance when diagnosing and treating a stroke. Studies have shown that around 2 million brain cells die every minute until blood flow is restored to the brain, increasing the risk of permanent damage. 

Edison HealthLink's advanced post-processing software aims to reduce this risk by allowing clinicians to analyse and act upon critical data - for instance from brain scans - without sending it to the cloud first, making decision-making faster.

"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, Chief Digital Officer at GE Healthcare. 

“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.”

By operating medical devices that connect to Edison HealthLink, health systems can continually receive advanced software updates without requiring new equipment – essentially extending the life of existing assets.

Edison HealthLink runs the existing Edison Health Services software stack, which provides healthcare-specific services such as HIPAA-compliant data aggregation, connectivity, AI and non-AI algorithm orchestration. Developers can use this to build and deploy clinical applications and workflows. 

Healthcare applications deployed on Edison HealthLink are part of GE Healthcare’s efforts to provide clinicians with tools that help them aggregate data, apply AI and analytics to that data and uncover insights – empowering clinicians to achieve better patient outcomes, gain efficiency and reduce errors