The American College of Radiology’s Harvey L. Neiman Health Policy Institute and Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta have announced a new partnership focused on applying analytics and artificial intelligence (AI) to large medical claims databases. The five-year, $3 million arrangement is centered around establishing a Health Economics and Analytics Lab (HEAL) at Georgia Tech’s Ivan Allen College of Liberal Arts in Atlanta.
“The HEAL will provide needed research to inform the national medical imaging policy debate and develop new approaches for improving population health,” Danny R. Hughes, PhD, executive director of the Neiman Institute and a professor of economics at Georgia Tech, said in a prepared statement. “Drawing on Georgia Tech’s unparalleled strength in interdisciplinary research, the HEAL is uniquely positioned to exploit the vast stores of medical data now available to ensure we move toward a sustainable health care system.”
“This partnership provides a tremendous opportunity to leverage the Neiman Institute’s policy expertise with the analytical capabilities of a world-class engineering institution to address the pressing problems of improving population health, increasing access to medical care, and reducing medical costs.” Geraldine McGinty, MD, chair of the ACR’s Board of Chancellors, said in the same statement.
Hughes will lead the lab, which will explore the medical claims databases—especially claims related to medical imaging—to learn more about how healthcare policies impact both patients and the providers themselves. Full-time post-doctorate researchers, graduate research assistants and Georgia Tech faculty will all have access the Neiman Institute’s large databases as they work inside the HEAL.
Michael has more than 16 years of experience as a professional writer and editor. He has written at length about cardiology, radiology, artificial intelligence and other key healthcare topics.