Radiology provider and hospital system Emory Healthcare has partnered with communication giant Verizon in a bid to provide “next generation” imaging services.
The two companies formally launched their partnership on Friday, Feb. 28, with a ribbon cutting at the new Emory Healthcare Innovation Hub. In an announcement, hospital officials said they plan to harness Verizon’s 5G network to explore point-0f-care imaging systems that transmit scans from an ambulance directly to the emergency department.
Other innovations could include robot-assisted surgery, remote physical therapy, telemedicine, and doc training using virtual and augmented reality.
"The healthcare industry, driven by value-based care and increased consumerization, is set for a paradigm shift that will put a much greater focus on connectivity and access to data," Scott Boden, MD, vice president for business innovation for Emory, said in a statement. "Across every facet of healthcare, from care innovation to reimbursement model transformation to decentralization of care, speed to data is critical to the digital evolution of health."
Verizon noted that partnering with Emory is part of its broader strategy of partnering with startups, universities and other enterprises to use 5G to disrupt healthcare and other industries.
Atlanta-based Emory has more than 24,000 employees across 11 hospitals, generating $4.4 billion in annual revenue, according to the announcement. It also employs more than 2,800 physicians in 70 specialties including radiology. Its rads are spread among 11 different clinical divisions, completing more than 1.2 million imaging studies annually, according to its latest annual report.
Marty Stempniak has covered healthcare since 2012, with his byline appearing in the American Hospital Association's member magazine, Modern Healthcare and McKnight's. Prior to that, he wrote about village government and local business for his hometown newspaper in Oak Park, Illinois. He won a Peter Lisagor and Gold EXCEL awards in 2017 for his coverage of the opioid epidemic.