Amazon releases AI language processing service for patient records, radiology reports

Amazon has launched a new medical language processing service that, by using artificial intelligence (AI), can extract data from patient records and reports to help healthcare professionals make better treatment decisions, address data privacy and decrease overall costs, according to a report published Nov. 28 by TechCrunch.  

The service, called Amazon Comprehend Medical, complies with the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) and was officially announced Tuesday, Nov. 27 by Amazon.  

Using a cloud software that combines text analysis and machine learning, the service can read patients records and identify and organize information regarding diagnoses, treatment, symptoms and medication dosage from prescriptions, notes, audio and radiology reports. Amazon has reported that a diagnostics equipment company and cancer research center currently previewing the service has reduced the time it takes to process clinical documents from hours to seconds.  

“The company claimed that Comprehend Medical can accurately identify ‘medical conditions, anatomic terms, details of medical tests, treatments, and procedures,'” according to the article. “In turn, patients can use the service to help manage different aspects of their treatment, including scheduling healthcare visits and prescription medicines or determining insurance eligibility.”  

See TechCrunch’s entire article below. 

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A recent graduate from Dominican University (IL) with a bachelor’s in journalism, Melissa joined TriMed’s Chicago team in 2017 covering all aspects of health imaging. She’s a fan of singing and playing guitar, elephants, a good cup of tea, and her golden retriever Cooper.

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