Nuance Communications Inc. Archives - Medical Design Sourcing

How Olympus is using AI to find patients for its COPD device

Olympus recently announced its SeleCT Connect program, which uses diagnostic imaging AI to automatically screen which people might benefit from its Spiration valve system.

Spiration is an FDA-designated breakthrough device for treating chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) patients.

SeleCT Connect — offered as part of Olympus’ SeleCT quantitative computer tomography (QCT) analysis service — is available immediately to more than 9,000 U.S. healthcare through the Nuance AI Marketplace, a workflow-integrated cloud platform for diagnostic imaging AI algorithms.

Read the full story on our sister site Medical Design & Outsourcing.

MedTech 100 roundup: Industry skies to all-time high

The medtech industry hit a slight lull in the early stages of 2021 and, after signs of a rebound, it has soared beyond levels ever before seen.

MassDevice‘s MedTech 100 Index had been building up steam in the month of April, rising from 102.16 points at the beginning of March all the way to 109.39 to end the week before last (April 9). Having only set its previous all-time best of 110.96 on Feb. 15, the industry’s topsy-turvy run gave no indication of which direction it was heading next.

However, after the rise over the past couple of weeks, the industry rode that wave to a new all-time high of 112.25 to end last week on April 16. That represents a 2.6% rise from the previous week’s tally.

Improvements continue to shine a light on the strong position the industry has settled into a year on from the height of the COVID-19 pandemic’s impact on medtech, as the industry has produced an 21.6% rise from the pre-pandemic high of 92.32 (set on Feb. 1…

Microsoft spending $19.7B on Nuance and its AI for healthcare providers

Microsoft announced today that it will acquire Nuance Communications and its AI-based software used by healthcare providers.

Under the agreement, Microsoft will buy Nuance at $56 per share, representing a 23% premium to Nuance’s closing price on Friday, April 9, 2021. The all-cash transaction is valued at $19.7 billion, inclusive of Nuance’s debt, according to a news release.

Nuance develops conversational AI and cloud-based ambient clinical intelligence for healthcare providers, including the Dragon Ambient eXperience, Dragon Medical One and PowerScribe One for radiology reporting. The company’s platforms work with core healthcare systems, including longstanding relationships with Electronic Health Records (EHRs).

According to the release, Nuance’s platforms are currently used by more than 55% of physicians and 75% of radiologists in the U.S., while they are also used in 77% of U.S. hospitals.

Microsoft said it accelerated…