Call for Royal College of Radiologists to embrace quality-led AI services
LONDON – The Royal College of Radiologists is right to call for the medical imaging community to become actively involved in assessing the accuracy and credibility of AI algorithms, according to the head of one of the UK's leading AI radiology companies.
Simon Rasalingham, CEO and Chairman of behold.ai, was responding to a warning by outgoing RCR President Dr. Nicola Strickland about ensuring that AI services coming onto the market were safe and fit for purpose. He welcomed the fact that the core curriculum of the Fellowship of the RCR has been recently rewritten to include the basic concepts of AI.
"I haven't met a clinical or commercial person involved in the development and implementation of AI who doesn't understand that the consultant radiologist is central to this process. The more the radiologist is involved in testing the efficacy and appropriate deployment of this technology the better it will be for the patient and for healthcare services generally", he said.
It was pleasing that Dr. Strickland had pointed to the triage of worklists on PACS to prioritise automatically detected "urgent" cases as having promising potential.
"We are working on this very application and have a number of pilots either running or about to start in NHS hospitals - all of these integrations are being introduced under the close scrutiny of senior radiology personnel in each hospital", he pointed out.
But Mr Rasalingham said it was important that, while taking a sceptical and quality-led stance, the RCR and other professional bodies should look to positively embrace AI as a game-changer in global radiology.
"Dr. Strickland said she thought that some countries have a tendency to try to get AI-related products into clinical practice as soon as possible, due to workload-related issues, particularly radiologist numbers versus escalating patient exams.
“Well, that is a perfect description of the UK! We have declining numbers of radiologists in this country, ever-increasing requests for scans and a new power in the land, the NHSX, determined to lever the benefits of digital technology for the benefit of patients.
"The pace of AI development in global radiology is astonishing and is bringing unique challenges. We have just been awarded ISO 13485 QMS certification - the gold standard of quality certification - but because of the advanced nature of our algorithm a lot of creative abstraction of concepts and ideas was required in order to build a QMS that met the necessary requirements.
"The audit itself was 7 man-days long and no area of the business was left unexamined. Developing AI applications for safe, verified and efficient use is not to be undertaken lightly whether it's a company or a College".
He added that the RCR could be proud if its members who were piloting the introduction of behold's 'red dot' algorithm for instant triage radiology in NHS hospitals.
"They are highly-professional, incredibly thorough and completely committed to obtaining the most accurate and timely diagnoses for their patients. They are a credit to the College and a credit to radiology".
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Further information from John V. Wright on +44 7710 454214 Email: john@blueplanetcommunications.com
NOTES FOR EDITORS
About behold.ai
Behold.ai is headquartered in London and has corporate and research facilities in New York and India.
We use cutting-edge science to pioneer new forms of diagnostic medicine; this innovative approach to healthcare is a step change in the treatment and prevention of diseases, delivering benefits today to patients across the NHS. The company is identified as a leader in AI image-based diagnosis in the influential Artificial Intelligence in Global Health: Defining a Collective Path Forward report produced by the Rockefeller Foundation and United States Agency for International Development’s (USAID) Center for Innovation and Impact (CII), in coordination with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.
Behold.ai provides artificial intelligence, through its red dot® cognitive computing platform, to radiology departments. Behold.ai’s technology augments the expertise of radiologists to enable them to report with greater clinical accuracy, faster and more safely than they could before. This revolutionary combination helps to deliver greater performance in radiology reporting at a fraction of the price of outsourced reporting.
‘Instant triage’ AI company achieves quality gold standard
LONDON – One of the first companies to successfully introduce real-world Artificial Intelligence benefits for NHS patients has achieved the gold standard of quality certification.
Behold.ai, headquartered in London, is delivering its algorithm-based 'instant triage' in the radiology department at Dartford and Gravesham NHS Trust where patients have already benefited from its ability to quickly identify anomalies in multiple-modality scans. The ground-breaking software is also currently live in two other NHS Trusts.
It has now been awarded ISO 13485 QMS certification - after adopting a ground-breaking approach to achieve the Standard that had been specified long before recent developments in AI algorithms.
Mike Harrison, behold.ai's Global Director of Compliance, pointed out that the organisation, founded by former CEO of Medica Group Simon Rasalingham in 2017, achieved certification-ready status in a relatively short period of time after it made a huge company-wide commitment.
"In order to do so, we had to have complete buy-in from everyone in the business and there was a huge amount of team work involved. I think this demonstrates that Simon has put together a very well balanced team that together achieves more than the sum of its parts. This is an especially difficult thing to do when staff are based in multiple continents!
"An ISO 13485 QMS is a lot more complex than a ‘traditional’ ISO 9001 QMS. Specifically focussed on companies that build Medical Devices, it includes all of the requirements of ISO 9001 and adds a whole host of extra requirements to ensure that the company can build Medical Devices that are both clinically safe and clinically effective. So it was a huge amount to learn and it brought the company to operational ‘maturity’ in a very short space of time. It has provided the business with a very solid foundation on which to grow and develop".
Mr Harrison revealed that the advanced nature of the algorithm itself had set the team unusual challenges.
"When reading these Standards, it soon becomes obvious that they were written before Artificial Intelligence was considered a Medical Device; so a lot of creative abstraction of concepts and ideas was required in order to build a QMS that was effective for our business whilst at the same time meeting the necessary requirements.
"The audit itself was 7 man-days long and no area of the business was left unexamined. So I really feel that this is a glowing endorsement of the company and of the team that Simon has put together”.
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For further information, please contact John V. Wright on +44 7710 454214
Email: john@blueplanetcommunications.com
NOTES FOR EDITORS
Behold.ai is headquartered in London and has corporate and research facilities in New York and India.
ISO 13485 is essential for behold.ai's ambitions to develop products in the UK/EU. It is widely anticipated that the FDA will adopt ISO 13485 in place of their existing 21 CFR 820 QMS standard - so it will become essential for the company's ambitions in the US market.
When looking for a certification body, Behold chose BSI which is regarded as the gold standard UKAS accredited certification body in the UK.
ISO 13485 specifies requirements for a Quality Management System where an organization needs to demonstrate its ability to provide medical devices and related services that consistently meet customer and applicable regulatory requirements. It is the internationally-recognised gold standard for quality in the medical device industry.
About behold.ai
Behold.ai utilise cutting-edge science to pioneer new forms of diagnostic medicine; this innovative approach to healthcare is a step change in the treatment and prevention of diseases, delivering benefits today to patients across the NHS.
Behold.ai provides artificial intelligence, through its red dot® cognitive computing platform, to radiology departments. Behold.ai’s technology augments the expertise of radiologists to enable them to report with greater clinical accuracy, faster and more safely than they could before. This revolutionary combination helps to deliver greater performance in radiology reporting at a fraction of the price of outsourced reporting.
Dartford and Gravesham NHS Trust implements AI in radiology
Trust has partnered with Behold.ai to support quicker diagnosis workflows
Dartford and Gravesham NHS Trust is excited to announce it has deployed artificial intelligence (AI) algorithms to support quicker radiology reporting.
The Trust has partnered with Behold.ai, a radiology AI specialist to implement its red dot® prioritisation platform. The red dot® AI algorithm separates radiology studies into normal and abnormal categories alerting radiographers to urgent findings at the point of acquisition and helping clinicians prioritise workloads and reduce reporting backlogs.
The Behold.ai algorithms have been developed using more than 30,000 example images, all of which have been reviewed and reported by highly experienced consultant radiology clinicians in order to shape accurate decision making. The red dot® prioritisation platform employed at Dartford is capable of sorting images into normal and abnormal categories in less than 30 seconds post image acquisition.
This means that the radiology team know, before the patient leaves the radiology department, whether their examination is normal, or whether there is an abnormality present - an instant triage. This is valuable information for the radiologists, clinicians around the Trust and ultimately the patient. The algorithm into existing workflows for report prioritisation and distribution, as well as critical findings alerts.
Radiology departments play an essential role in the diagnostic process, however a consequence of fewer radiologists and growing demand for images has left services stretched beyond capacity across many trusts, resulting in reporting delays - in some cases impacting cancer diagnosis. These service issues have been highlighted by the Care Quality Commission and the Royal College of Radiologists.
Neil Perry, Associate Director Digital Transformation for Dartford and Gravesham NHS Trust said: “Radiology departments play a crucial role in our healthcare network and the ability to report and diagnose as quickly and accurately as possible has a major impact on patient outcomes.
“Behold.ai’s AI technology is specifically designed to support our skilled radiology workforce by understanding and supporting their existing workflows and enabling them to manage reporting more efficiently. It also allows us to work with our existing radiology technology which further demonstrates its ability to support our existing working processes. We are extremely excited to work with Behold.ai and take the technology to the next level with automated reporting of key diagnoses and expanding to other investigation groups.”
Simon Rasalingham, CEO and Chairman of Behold.ai said: “Our algorithms have been developed by highly-trained and experienced consultant radiologists who have continually reviewed, annotated and reported on patient images to help train the algorithm correctly.
“This means we are able to replicate the real-life work of a radiologist via our red dot® algorithm, with the aim of ensuring exceptional real-world clinical accuracy. This is the key difference, we believe, in the performance of AI. Our solution seamlessly integrates into local trust workflows augmenting clinical practice and delivering state-of-the-art, safe Artificial Intelligence.
“The implementation at Dartford is a great opportunity to showcase the practical application of AI technology in the healthcare sector and demonstrates how it can be used to deliver improved patient care. We are in the process of rolling out the red dot® solution across the NHS, delivering an essential, cost effective and safe alternative to the way radiology departments can manage their workload.”
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For further information, please contact John V. Wright on 07710 4214
About Behold.AI
Behold.ai utilise cutting-edge science to pioneer new forms of diagnostic medicine; this innovative approach to healthcare is a step change in the treatment and prevention of diseases, delivering benefits today to patients across the NHS.
Behold.ai provides artificial intelligence, through its red dot® cognitive computing platform, to radiology departments. Behold.ai’s technology augments the expertise of radiologists to enable them to report with greater clinical accuracy, faster and more safely than they could before. This revolutionary combination helps to deliver greater performance in radiology reporting at a fraction of the price of outsourced reporting.
About Simon Rasalingham
Simon acquired behold.ai in October 2017.
In 2003, Simon founded MEDICA Group which he built up to be the UK’s largest and most successful teleradiology provider before leaving in February 2013. He sold MEDICA to the largest charity in the UK, Nuffield Health. The startup was entirely self funded; taking huge personal financial risk (including remortgaging his house!) Simon grew MEDICA into a national teleradiology reporting company.
He is now solely focused on the development of behold.ai, with the goal of utilising AI to lead the way in tackling the issues facing radiology internationally starting in the UK and USA.