BURLINGTON, Mass. and LAS VEGAS, March 05, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- At HIMSS 2018, Nuance Communications, Inc. (NASDAQ:NUAN), (booth #1143) today announced the signing of a multi-year strategic agreement with Partners HealthCare. The two organizations will optimize the process for rapid development, validation and utilization of artificial intelligence (AI) for radiologists at the point of care, and Nuance intends to make the new algorithms available through the Nuance AI Marketplace for Diagnostic Imaging. The collaboration will be executed through the recently formed Massachusetts General Hospital ("MGH") and Brigham and Women’s Hospital ("BWH") Center for Clinical Data Science (“CCDS”) and will focus on improving radiologists’ efficiency and report quality, as well as patient clinical outcomes.

Nuance and Partners HealthCare will work together, and with other key supporters of the Nuance AI Marketplace for Diagnostic Imaging including NVIDIA and the American College of Radiology. The collective will continue to foster the democratization of Imaging AI, with an emphasis on automating many of the mundane and repetitive tasks radiologists face daily. The AI Marketplace is an open platform for developers, data scientists and radiologists to accelerate the development, deployment, and adoption of AI for medical imaging. Leveraging the 70 percent of Radiologists in the U.S. already using Nuance’s PowerScribe radiology reporting and PowerShare image exchange network, the AI Marketplace unlocks the power of AI for all radiologists and developers. Specifically, technology partners can now seamlessly deploy their algorithms into Nuance’s cloud-based PowerShare Network and users can easily select them through the PowerScribe radiology reporting platform. This enables the algorithms to be accessed within a radiologist’s native workflow, eliminating the need to buy new reporting or image sharing systems. 

Accessibility and efficiency are major drivers of the work taking place at the CCDS. "We spend a lot of energy thinking about how to develop and effectively deliver tools into the clinical workflow - starting upstream with designing smarter imaging modalities to downstream automation of reporting workflows," said Mark Michalski, MD, Executive Director of the CCDS. "As AI tool sets are increasingly democratized, scaling the delivery and integration of these tools is likely to represent a barrier to broad adoption." Through investment in the CCDS, MGH and BWH leadership is actively building the technical capabilities and industry relationships needed to lower these barriers and help bring solutions to market.

“For AI algorithms to be useful to radiologists and patients, it is critical that they are both clinically validated and accessible through the existing reporting workflow,” said Keith Dreyer, DO, PhD, FACR, FSIIM, Chief Data Science Officer, Partners HealthCare. “Through this collaboration with Nuance, radiologists will be able to access and leverage validated AI and deep learning algorithms without leaving their preferred workflow. Partnerships like this are a game changer given the time savings, increases in productivity and improved quality outcomes enabled for radiology staff.”

“Partners understands that for deep learning technologies to materially drive better patient outcomes and an enhanced experience for radiologists, a truly scalable and more systematic route to development, validation and adoption is required,” said Karen Holzberger, Vice President and General Manager, Healthcare Diagnostics, Nuance. “Through this collaboration, Nuance and Partners are working to ensure the AI Marketplace delivers these seamless and scalable capabilities within a nationwide network that already connects to the majority of all radiologists, hospitals and other key clinical system vendors in the US.”

To learn more about the Nuance AI Marketplace for Diagnostic Imaging, download the whitepaper, “AI Access for All: The power and promise of AI for radiology." Nuance will demonstrate the AI Marketplace at the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS) Annual Meeting, at booth #1143 at the Sands Expo Center, March 5 – 9, in Las Vegas.

About Nuance Healthcare
Nuance provides intelligent systems that support a more natural and insightful approach to clinical documentation, freeing clinicians to spend more time caring for patients. Nuance’s healthcare solutions capture, improve and communicate more than 300 million patient stories each year, helping more than 500,000 clinicians in 10,000 global healthcare organizations to drive meaningful clinical and financial outcomes. Nuance’s award-winning clinical speech recognition, medical transcription, CDI, coding, quality and medical imaging solutions provide a more complete and accurate view of patient care.

About Nuance Communications, Inc.
Nuance Communications, Inc. is a leading provider of voice and language solutions for businesses and consumers around the world. Its technologies, applications and services make the user experience more compelling by transforming the way people interact with devices and systems. Every day, millions of users and thousands of businesses experience Nuance’s proven applications. For more information, please visit www.nuance.com.

About Partners HealthCare
Partners HealthCare is an integrated health system founded by Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Massachusetts General Hospital.  In addition to its two academic medical centers, the Partners system includes community and specialty hospitals, a managed care organization, community health centers, a physician network, home health and long-term care services, and other health-related entities.  Partners is one of the nation’s leading biomedical research organizations and a principal teaching affiliate of Harvard Medical School. Partners HealthCare is a non-profit organization.

About the MGH & BWH Center for Clinical Data Science
Founded in 2016, the MGH & BWH Center for Clinical Data Science is a joint center formed by Massachusetts General Hospital and Brigham and Women’s Hospital to transform healthcare by translating the latest advances in artificial intelligence (AI) into improved health outcomes and greater operational efficiency. With deep academic research expertise, access to significant computational power and data resources, and extensive product development and industry experience, the CCDS is uniquely positioned to improve the detection, diagnosis, treatment, and management of diseases through the application and commercial translation of AI techniques.

Trademark reference: Nuance and the Nuance logo are registered trademarks or trademarks of Nuance Communications, Inc. or its affiliates in the United States and/or other countries. All other trademarks referenced herein are the property of their respective owners.

For Media Inquiries:
Palmer Reuther
Corporate Communications, Nuance Healthcare
(978) 697-9227
palmer.reuther@nuance.com