The chief executive of the world’s largest medical device maker is likely keenly aware that many view AI — especially its application in healthcare — with either disdain and alarm. Not surprisingly, Geoff Martha, CEO of Medtronic, sought to demarcate a line separating popular understanding of AI — largely shaped by apps like OpenAI’s ChatGPT and DALL.E2 — and his own company’s use of the technology to improve the healthcare industry.
During his presentation at the 42nd Annual J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference in San Francisco on Monday, Martha rattled off five innovations the company has developed using AI.
“I know when I listen to presentations from other companies, sometimes when the AI stuff comes on, you get a bit of an eye roll, but this is legitimate here,” Martha declared, according to a livestream audio of his presentation. “These are FDA-approved products where you are seeing meaningful improvements to the current standard of care that translate to better patient outcomes, translate to lower cost, translate to better access. It’s a lot of work. This isn’t about ChatGPT. We have to train the models ourselves with a lot of high quality data but the impact is amazing here.”
Ouch Sam Altman.
OK, so what precisely is Medtronic doing with artificial intelligence technology and AI algorithms? Here are five products already on the market that Martha listed:
GI Genius
This is a computer-aided endoscopic polyp detection tool used during colonoscopies to improve the identification rates of adenomas — a type of polyp — most of which are benign, though not all. Martha declared that Medtronic’s own clinical data showed that 26 percent of the polyps were being missed that the AI is now able to pick up.
Touch Surgery Enterprise
Medtronic’s AI enabled surgery solution is geared to help surgeons analyze their surgical videos and improve their performance.
“When a surgeon walks out of the procedure, the procedure is broken down by all of its component parts right on their phone instantly, and annotated, so you kind of watch the game tape right after you get out of the procedure, so this is driving a lot of value for training, compliance, etc, ” Martha said.
AiBLE
This is Medtronic’s digital ecosystem for neurosurgery, and AI tools help to plan and better prepare for complicated surgeries, including that of the spine. For instance, spine surgeons can use the AiBLE platform to leverage AI in order to “model, create, plan, and analyze custom-engineered rods implants that correct abnormal curvature of the spine,” according to Medtronic’s website.
MiniMed 780G System for Diabetes Patients
Martha described the AI algorithms powering the company’s MiniMed 780G insulin pump system as its “secret sauce” allowing type 1 diabetes patients to achieve more time spent within their recommended blood glucose ranges. The AI analyzes “current and past sugar level trends to anticipate, adjust, and correct insulin delivery” per the product website. It also comes equipped with a meal detection technology such that if patients mistakenly enter a lower carb count for a meal and the system detects a spike in blood sugar levels, it can automatically correct insulin dose accordingly up to every five minutes.
AccuRhythm AI Algorithms for Linq Cardiac Monitor
The Linq II device is an insertable cardiac monitor able to detect atrial fibrillation – irregular or very rapid heart rhythm . But many devices have false alerts and the AccuRhythm AI takes aim squarely at that.
“[Cardiologists] didn’t want any false positives. They were looking for 100% sensitivity and specificity and the unlock [for the Linq devices] was the AI,” Martha said. “As we eliminated the false positives, this business has taken off.”
Martha noted that the Linq devices now bring in $600 million in annual revenue.
These five products — all powered by AI — are positioning Medtronic to differentiate itself from both medtech companies and tech companies, Martha declared. So convinced Martha and executives are of AI’s positive impact on healthcare that they have established an AI Center of Excellence at Medtronic.
“We have the data analytics expertise and we continue to build on that and this is across multiple disease areas, and we’ve been working very closely with the regulators on this. We spent a lot of time with regulators around our role, especially the FDA, on how to think about AI in healthcare.”
Photo: metamorworks, Getty Images
