This year at Smart City Expo World Congress, the industry-leading event for urbanization, Microsoft will bring city leaders and solution experts from around the world to demonstrate innovative technologies currently empowering the digital transformation of smart cities. This blog post is the third in a series about how a connected city—powered by our intelligent cloud and intelligent edge platform—will help you step into a new era of public service.

By 2025, the UN projects that 68% of the world population will live in cities or urban areas. To keep pace with urbanization, innovative cities use technology like the Internet of Things (IoT) to develop smart infrastructure and services. This has led to a simultaneous explosion in the amount of data cities must manage.

While IoT-enabled services are a great first-step, imagine a world where cities embrace AI and machine learning to analyze all of the data large cities generate. In this ideal city, vehicles, parking spaces, buildings, energy and water systems all talk with and learn from each other. Citizens never experience major service interruptions, as city maintenance is scheduled during hours that will minimally impact residents. Maintenance and utility costs will also be significantly reduced by learning from the data collected creating new efficiencies.

Today, as cities and communities embrace digital transformation, these ideas become real, actionable solutions.

Microsoft’s Vision – Make Infrastructure Smarter

Cities looking to increase their sustainability, adapt their current infrastructure, and empower their citizens should explore the amazing applications of Microsoft CityNext. With the application of cutting-edge technologies like  Azure Digital Twins, which uses AI, Machine Learning, and IoT-enabled devices and services to develop a comprehensive digital model of a physical environment, cities can build efficient, intelligent infrastructures  that leverage a highly secure and compliant cloud platform. Leveraging Azure Digital Twins enables cities to model, simulate, and analyze a wide variety of infrastructure data, including things like wastewater treatment, traffic flow, and social services. Empowered City leaders make data-driven decisions, and leverage analysis of massive amounts of data to create new policies using evidence-based impacts to proactively maintain systems, lower operational costs, and keep citizens happy. In addition, already, cities around the world make smart infrastructure choices today, using solutions like Microsoft’s Intelligent Public Works.

Empowered City leaders make data-driven decisions, and leverage analysis of massive amounts of data to create new policies using evidence-based impacts to proactively maintain systems, lower operational costs, and keep citizens happy. Already, cities around the world make smart infrastructure choices today, using solutions like Microsoft’s Intelligent Public Works.

Intelligent Public Works combines intelligent cloud and IoT technology with connected field service for a comprehensive solution that drives efficiency and cost savings, empowering cities to deliver a new standard of proactive service. Miami-Dade County water and sanitation department’s (WASD) IT team rebuilt their infrastructure on a cloud-based, IoT-enabled platform that provides a complete analysis of pump station data. They now analyze the data from their pumps in a matter of minutes rather than days, providing a quicker response to customer’s needs, reduced costs, and more time spent engaging citizens.

Microsoft partners – Learn about the CityNext ecosystem

Microsoft and Microsoft CityNext partners enable cities to enter into a new era of delivering public services.

Diehl Metering is working with cities all across the globe to install smart meters in citizens homes to allow “walk-by” or “drive-by” metering. Instead of previously having to schedule a time to collect the metering data in person, service trucks now simply drive by homes and smart meters transmit utility data to the service vehicle. This allows for a hassle-free engagement between citizens and city employees, while saving time and resources for the company.

ABB is transforming public utility management with solutions that mobilize maintenance, inspection, and outage work. The ABB Ability Eclipse Workforce Management platform delivers greater worker efficiency, vast scalability, continuous innovation, and lower maintenance costs. And the ABB Ability™ Collaborative Operations solution empowers cities to optimize their utility consumption, including water, heat, solar, while minimizing its environmental impact.

Envision is redefining the future with renewable and intelligent IoT energy solutions. Based on EnOS™, combined intelligent sensors, cloud computing, and big data technology; Envision super brain solution establishes the intelligent link between people and devices. Improve equipment operating efficiency, decrease power costs, optimize user experience, and bring new revenue growth for building owners.

Join us at Smart City Expo World Congress

Microsoft and its partners are leading the way to a new era of government infrastructure. Learn more about smart buildings and cities of the future.

The post Step into a new era of public service with smarter infrastructure appeared first on Microsoft Industry Blogs.

At Microsoft Envision 2018 last week, we were privileged to hear from many technology and business leaders from all levels of government. They spoke about how technologies like artificial intelligence (AI) and cloud services are helping them deliver better services in a more cost-effective way.

As governments begin to find new ways to make use of huge amounts of data, digital technology will become an even more critical component in helping them engage citizens, empower employees, and find new operational efficiencies.

Envision’s intelligent government sessions featured inspiring stories and insights from all kinds of communities across the United States and beyond. Here’s a recap of what they had to say.

An introduction to intelligent government

The session kicked off with an overview of the challenges governments face today, with our very own VP of Worldwide Education and Government, Anthony Salcito, discussing how advanced technologies can help governments reinvent operations, transform service delivery, and better support their communities.

Philip Dumortier, CIO at the Belgian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, discussed how they first introduced technology to the embassies that limited the agility needed due to security requirements.  Thus, employees ended up using their personal computers.  Philip is working to make sure they develop systems that provide the agility needed by embassy personnel while at the same time meeting security requirements.

David Heyman, Co-Founder of Smart City Works, shared about how his organization is involved with building and launching the next generation of infrastructure technology companies that can improve the livability, operations, and resilience of cities. These startups focus on ‘Solve Local / Scale Global’ to solve problems around housing, energy, water and transportation.

Increasing citizen engagement

For governments to deliver the best outcomes, they need citizens to be engaged—which means giving them ways to engage from anywhere at any time.

James Lindauer of Denver Smart Cities and Shonte Eldridge from the City of Baltimore shared how their communities are increasing engagement and support by enabling citizen-centric government, making services and information more accessible and sustainable.

Empowering employees to make a difference

Talented people get into government full of enthusiasm to make a real contribution, and intelligent government is all about giving those people the tools and workplaces they need to make a difference to citizens’ lives.

Derek Vale from the State of Hawaii Department of Health, and Mirian Avalos, CIO at the Los Angeles County Department of Mental Health, discussed how they are empowering first line health professionals. By using data to understand individual citizens’ needs, health workers can work with government agencies to find the right approach to get the best outcome for each person.

Improving operational efficiency for a better citizen experience

Speakers from Los Angeles, District of Columbia, and Montgomery County shared their experiences of using cloud, IoT and AI-powered analytics to drive new efficiencies that are revolutionizing the services they’re able to deliver.

We heard some great real-world stories of the use cases governments are finding for analytics, IoT, and AI technologies. For example, did you know what LA’s bus drivers now get real-time feedback on traffic conditions, so they know exactly what speed they need to travel to hit more green lights?

A personal perspective on technology and context

It was also great to catch The Daily Show’s Trevor Noah at Envision, talking about his own experiences of growing up with technology, and how it helped him discover new worlds beyond his immediate environment.

As many of the Envision sessions revolved around the role of AI in the government of the future, something Trevor said struck a chord with me. He spoke about the importance of context, and how understanding the context of conversations, actions, and events can shape our perceptions and responses. This will be a key consideration as government adoption of intelligent technologies increases.

Enabling the proactive, citizen-centric government of the future

AI technologies enable the intelligent government to use IoT and other information to take proactive, contextual action (just like the bus drivers in LA). And with cloud services providing a cost-effective, secure infrastructure, it’s now much simpler and more affordable for governments to deliver outstanding services—and better outcomes for the communities they serve.

Find the answers to your specific government challenges—explore our growing portfolio of solutions built with the intelligent government of the future in mind: Microsoft in Government solutions

The post Envision recap: Improving citizen services with intelligent government appeared first on Microsoft Industry Blogs.

On-demand services and digital engagement in the private sector have raised citizen expectations, and public organizations are struggling to deliver the same high level of satisfaction that commercial companies offer while matching firms’ innovation and agility. Nowhere is that challenge more acute than in critical areas like public works—where a proactive, intelligent approach can prevent catastrophes, avoid endless citizen frustration, and save large sums of money while rebuilding citizen trust in government. Governments must deliver a wide range of infrastructure projects such as transportation infrastructure, building inspections, and utility services, but struggle to do so efficiently and effectively. Technology is key to optimizing the delivery of these services—over 1.1 billion federal hours can be saved with artificial intelligence and automation. Across the wide variety of public works services and the numerous government departments that administer them, public organizations face three primary challenges:

1) Outdated systems and inefficient monitoring capabilities

The technological backbone of large swaths of public infrastructure is increasingly antiquated, severely hampering governments’ ability to provide effective, efficient services. Without modern monitoring capabilities, enabled by technology like the Internet of Things (IoT), public agencies struggle to check if infrastructure is functioning normally or if there are subtle signs of imminent issues—leading to expensive trips for field works to check on dispersed equipment, service outages, and frustrated citizens. Many public organizations also miss out on opportunities to engage citizens in maintaining public infrastructure, as they lack streamlined digital services that empower people to easily report problems. As a result, governments today are far too reactive and place citizens at risk of public works failures. Satisfying citizens and restoring faith in government starts with proactive, predictive public works that prevent issues before they interfere with citizens’ lives.

2) Reactive maintenance and service interruptions

Though remote monitoring systems alone can dramatically cut down on expensive, manual asset maintenance checks, governments are still stuck responding reactively. Even if outages are shorter than they would be without remote monitoring systems, service stoppages lead to significant interruptions in citizens’ lives and dramatically decreased citizen satisfaction. Plus, with social media providing disgruntled citizens a platform to amplify public relations (PR) problems, the cost of public works failure has never been higher. By utilizing artificial intelligence (AI) to analyze data from IoT devices, governments can proactively manage public works to recognize and fix problems before they occur. In fact, implementing predictive maintenance solutions has been shown to reduce equipment downtime by an average of 50%, and further development of machine learning is set to make services even more efficient and effective. An intelligent public works approach empowers governments to improve services while quickly addressing anomalies before they become major problem.

3) Inefficient resource allocation and increasing demands to do more with less

Despite the savings gained from implementing predictive maintenance and remote monitoring, growing demands on public services lead to an endless struggle for sufficient funds. Just as governments can use IoT devices and advanced analytics to improve their public works, financial operations can also benefit from innovative technology. Leveraging AI to optimize resource allocation equips governments with powerful, flexible budgeting tools, streamlining financial operations and empowering public leaders to make fast, informed decisions. This pays off quickly through improved citizen satisfaction, reduced risk of catastrophes, and ROI. An intelligent public works approach includes smart investments in technology that transforms infrastructure from a costly, difficult to maintain source of citizen frustration to an efficient, effective, optimized public operation.

Engage citizens, optimize operations, and cut costs with Intelligent Public Works from Microsoft

Intelligent Public Works from Microsoft empowers governments to implement proactive and efficient processes, driving increased citizen satisfaction and trust. With artificial intelligence and IoT capabilities, public organizations gain real-time monitoring for quicker service responses and streamlined, automated case management that saves time and minimizes costs.

Governments around the world are already enhancing systems and processes to better serve their citizens. The Municipality of Hollands Kroon shifted their infrastructure to the cloud, leveraging advanced analytics to glean insights that the city uses to improve decision making for public works–leading to streamlined public works processes like cutting the time to issue commercial zoning permits from 12 months to just 4 months.

Transform public works today with Microsoft, a trusted partner with industry-leading security, unmatched compliance, and unique hybrid cloud scalability. Learn about the six ways governments are transforming public works and see Intelligent Public Works in action.

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Fortunately, advances in technology have rapidly reduced the cost of sequencing. Today sequencing a whole human genome has fallen to just above $1000,[2] which has long been considered the benchmark to reach for affordable sequencing.[3] The price of sequencing a genome is now closing in on the price range of other routine medical tests. Given this precipitous drop in price, experts predict that by 2025 researchers will have sequenced over 100 million human genomes.[4]

The democratization of genomics will usher in a new era of precision medicine

The insights from genomic data open up new possibilities for delivering more effective and personalized care. It is expected that genomics will drive profound advances in cancer treatments. Researchers anticipate that by analyzing genomic data from tumor tissue, a physician will be able to select the treatment that will be most effective for the patient. It is expected that genomics will enable scenarios like prediction of inherited disease and treatment and perhaps even prevention of disease through gene therapy.

But genome-powered precision medicine at scale is only possible if healthcare organizations overcome the significant challenges presented by the scale and complexity of genomic data.

The journey from raw biological sample to actionable insight presents big data hurdles

Sequencing a single human genome produces an enormous amount of data. Sequencing starts with a raw biological sample from the patient—generally blood or saliva. In the lab, the sample is fragmented and each fragment is measured, or sequenced, producing digital strings of As, Gs, Cs, and Ts.

This raw data consists of around 1 billion 100-basepair strings—or around 100 gigabytes of data. 100 gigabytes may not seem like such a huge amount of data, but consider it in perspective: As researchers sequence more and more genomes, gigabytes will quickly give way to petabytes and even exabytes. In fact, by 2025, it is estimated that as much as 40 exabytes of storage capacity will be needed for human genomic data.[5]

Given the scale and complexity of genomic data, it’s not surprising that achieving insights from this raw data requires massive compute power. After sequencing, the strings of raw data are reassembled and aligned to a standard human genome. Then, using advanced analytics, researchers call out where the patient’s genome differs from the standard human genome—this is called variant calling.

This process, commonly known as secondary analysis, requires hundreds of core-hours of compute time. To understand what this compute process looks like at scale, consider that it would require over 9 million core-hours to analyze the genomic data of everyone at a sold-out event in New York’s Madison Square Garden.[6]

The cloud puts genomics within reach for more organizations

Given the scale and complexity of the genomic workload, managing genomic data on premises is beyond the reach of many health organizations. Fortunately, the cloud, with its practically unlimited ability to scale, presents a viable alternative. The cloud can automatically provide additional storage as soon as it’s needed. In contrast, the process of requisitioning, purchasing, and setting up additional disk space on premises can take months.

Computing resources are similarly scalable on demand. Translating raw genomic data into useful information requires extensive processing that only supercomputers or cloud computing resources can handle. While only a small number of elite research centers, major medical centers, or large pharmaceutical companies have access to super computers, any organization—from the smallest startup to the largest enterprise—can access the cloud.

Power your genomic analysis with Microsoft Genomics

With over a decade of research in genomic, Microsoft is committed to enabling healthcare organizations to overcome the hurdles to genomic analysis. That’s why we offer Microsoft Genomics, a scalable, secure, compliant cloud solution for genomic analysis.

With Microsoft Genomics service, healthcare organizations can support their most demanding sequencing needs by leveraging the Microsoft cloud to reliably run complex workloads at scale. The Genomics service orchestrates fast, efficient execution of a best-practices genomics pipeline, enabling healthcare organizations to take advantage of state-of-the-art analysis without the complexity of managing and updating their own hardware and software. And healthcare organizations can count on producing results that are highly accurate and consistent from run to run.

Naturally, security and compliance are top of mind for healthcare organizations, especially when it comes to the cloud. The Genomics service complies with the major global and local security, provenance, and privacy standards, including ISO and HIPAA. And healthcare organizations can protect their data with Azure, Microsoft’s trusted cloud platform built around security and privacy.

Last but not least, with the Genomics service, healthcare organizations pay as they go with no upfront commitment and can predict their costs accurately using a simple per-genome billing model that’s based on the number of gigabases in their samples. A single experience for billing and support keeps projects on track and within budget.

Accelerate genomics initiatives on a proven cloud platform

Leverage Microsoft’s expertise to power your genomic analysis and be confident that you will get the most from your data with a growing ecosystem of tools, datasets, and partner solutions. Visit the Microsoft Genomics page on Azure to learn more about the Genomics service and get started with a trial today

[1] Emily Singer, “The $2 Million Genome,” MIT Technology Review (June 1, 2007), https://www.technologyreview.com/s/407992/the-2-million-genome/

[2] National Human Genome Research Institute, “DNA Sequencing Costs: Data,” https://www.genome.gov/sequencingcostsdata/

[3] Leslie Pray, “A Cheap Personal Genome?,” Genome Biology (2002), https://doi.org/10.1186/gb-spotlight-20021007-02

[4] Zachary D. Stephens et al., “Big Data: Astronomical or Genomical,” PLOS Biology 13, no. 7 (2015)

[5] Ibid.

[6] Calculated based on 450 core-hours per genome

The post Power the democratization of genomics with the cloud appeared first on Microsoft Industry Blogs.

Genomics research is playing a foundational role in the effort to revolutionize how health is improved and diseases are treated. Until the advent of the cloud, however, sharing genomic data was cumbersome and costly, which stood in the way of its widespread application.

With the help of our partner, DNAnexus, St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital recently leveraged the Microsoft Genomics service to develop St. Jude Cloud. We sat down with Jinghui Zhang, PhD, St. Jude Chair of Computational Biology, and St. Jude CIO Keith Perry to discuss how St. Jude Cloud is advancing the global fight against childhood cancer, supporting data sharing, and encouraging greater collaboration among scientists worldwide.

What does pediatric cancer research look like today?

In pediatric cancer research, there are three major sub-categories: leukemia, solid tumors, and brain tumors. Leukemia was the first type St. Jude studied, and we’ve made dramatic improvements in terms of treating it. In 1962, when St. Jude opened, the cure rate was only 4%, and now St. Jude is achieving a 94% cure rate. However, cure rates are still below 80% in other areas, and optimizing treatment protocols in those areas has reached a plateau. We need to develop new approaches to improve these cure rates and reduce the risk of mortality and relapse.

The reason we do genomic research is two-fold. First, we can improve patient diagnoses and tailor treatments accordingly. And second, we can continue to optimize therapies in a way that gives patients high quality of life as survivors. We are trying to discover how genomics can be used as an analytical solution to these problems.

How important is collaboration to this research, and how do researchers collaborate beyond organizational walls?

Collaboration is extremely important.  Pediatric cancer is less common than adult cancer, and genomic findings overlap by only 50% between the two. This means there are fewer subsets of data to work with. For example, if you want to accumulate 500 breast cancer specimens, it’s easier to do because the incidence of adult cancer is much higher. In the pediatric cancer community, some cancer types are so rare, there is no way to accumulate sufficient samples to identify patterns without collaborating – you might even have to reach out at an international level.

What are some challenges cancer researchers face in using genomic data?

There are general challenges for any organization that wants to use genomic data, such as handling and accessing large datasets. Often, these datasets are accessible only to large institutions that have the supporting computation infrastructure, which is something smaller, individual laboratories don’t usually have. In our experience, troubleshooting issues with individual deployments of genome sequencing tools or systems has also proven problematic. Overcoming any of these challenges is extremely time-consuming and costly, and that stands in the way of discovery and advancement.

You’ve recently collaborated with DNAnexus to build St. Jude Cloud using the Microsoft Genomic service – can you tell us a little about St. Jude Cloud?

St. Jude Cloud aims to break down barriers to entry and create a collaborative research space. Scientific discovery, especially in the field of cancer genomics, requires sophisticated technology. By building our system on cloud computing infrastructure, we can install once and everyone can access it immediately. You don’t need to have a high-performance computer at your academic center to research and leverage St. Jude Cloud, and you don’t need to download tools. You can use the tools we’ve already validated and developed to run on data you’re producing or on other data you want to analyze.

What motivated St. Jude to develop St. Jude Cloud?

Sharing research and scientific discoveries is vital to advancing cures and saving more lives, especially when it comes to rare diseases like pediatric cancer. We have first-hand experience suffering through the laboriousness of downloading public data and seeing the limitations of genomic clouds in supporting end-to-end workflows and visualizations. We’re one of the largest generators of genomic data, so at some point the question became, if we don’t improve this process, who will? That said, we are not just the developer of this process – we’re also users. We wanted to make it easy to use and consume data and enable users to avoid the frustrations we experienced.

How does St. Jude Cloud help researchers overcome challenges in using genomic data?

St. Jude Cloud enables researchers to overcome the bottleneck of data accessibility – even individual laboratories of computer scientists or bench scientists can access and use our genomic data and tools with the opportunity to develop new ones. This type of contribution is mutually beneficial to the individual researcher, whose data and tools gain more visibility, and to the community, whose pool of resources grows. It truly takes a community to make full use of the genomic data and advance pediatric cancer research, so we hope our investment will benefit everyone involved.

What were some of the characteristics you looked for when you started exploring cloud platforms and partners?

The ability to protect patient confidentiality was top of mind. On top of using this infrastructure for the research purposes we developed it for, we envisioned that there could one day be a clinical application built on top of it, so data security was of utmost importance. We needed an infrastructure with a good track record in genomic data analysis, workflow development, and data protection, which made DNAnexus stand out when we were searching for a partner.

What unique attributes did Microsoft bring to this partnership?

We partnered with Microsoft because they took time to understand us and our mission. Our goal is different from most organizations’ – we want to get our data onto a platform where people can collaborate effectively and accelerate discovery.

Who will benefit from St. Jude Cloud?

St. Jude Cloud has a very strong emphasis on supporting regular scientists – you don’t need a PhD in computer science to use it. It is not only helpful for cancer geneticists and computer scientists, but for clinicians, post-docs, and oncologists who may not have a genomics background. We always say our end goal is to make genomic analysis as easy as filling an online shopping cart.

Now that the foundation has been laid for this type of collaborative research, what’s next?

Once you put data in the cloud, you can start having meaningful conversations. Now, it’s not a question about moving data – it’s about what you want to do with it. We believe the applications of this research go beyond cancer cells – even research on non-cancer-based genetic diseases can benefit.

Discover more about St. Jude Cloud and the Microsoft Genomics service

You can learn more about how St. Jude is enabling collaboration and accelerating scientific discovery here. Or, explore how Microsoft Genomics can power genome sequencing and research insights for your organization.

The post Leveraging the power of cloud computing to fuel genomic research appeared first on Microsoft Industry Blogs.

In recent years, interest among health organizations in adopting cloud and hybrid-cloud solutions hasn’t matched that of other industries. HIMSS 2018, however, indicated a shift. Health organizations around the world are rapidly adopting cloud and hybrid-cloud solutions to modernize each step of the patient journey, and the Microsoft booth was packed with companies looking to see how Microsoft and our partners are transforming care through cloud computing and artificial intelligence (AI).

During the conference, speakers emphasized the importance of separating hype from reality when discussing buzzword technologies such as AI, Blockchain, and mixed reality. Rather than using them as quick-fix, short-term solutions, they championed implementing such technologies as part of a broader approach to developing intelligent systems of insight and engagement.

Driving intelligent health with systems of insight

Systems of record like Electronic Health Records (EHRs) have laid the foundation for intelligent health, and at HIMSS 2018, systems of insight emerged as the next evolution of these platforms. By incorporating external data sources and applying AI technology powered by advanced analytics, health organizations can glean deeper insights from their own data.

In a session titled “Empowering Healthcare with Systems of Insight,” Tom Lawry, Director at Microsoft Worldwide Health, explained that there have been a lot of AI “one-hit wonders.” True systems of insight, he said, inject AI into effective workflows and processes.

Consider this real-life example of AI actively preventing adverse events and improving outcomes: Ochsner Health System adopted the Epic AI platform in combination with Microsoft Cloud technology to bring machine learning to the bedside. Now, their software continuously analyzes thousands of data points from bedside vitals and generates predictive alerts when it identifies high-risk patients.

In the “Platforms that Elevate the Quality of Care” session, John Doyle, Director of Microsoft Worldwide Health, invited Dr. Sunil Gupta, Founder and CMO of Intelligent Retinal Imaging Systems (IRIS), to present IRIS’ solution for the early detection of diabetic retinopathy. The IRIS FDA Class II retinal diagnostic solution integrates seamlessly into clinical primary care workflows. In this case, as part of a system of insight, AI enables the early detection of diabetic retinopathy to end preventable blindness in primary care, improving outcomes for patients and helping to reduce the cost of care. In the same session, Dr. David Thompson of Navigator discussed the use of intelligent health agents in digital patient engagement. One such chatbot platform is the Microsoft Health Bot, which makes use of clinical content provided by Health Navigator.

Health organizations all over the world are looking to leverage the power of AI and the cloud to improve outcomes, accelerate performance, and realize the vision of precision medicine. The Azure platform provides end-to-end capabilities that enable the healthcare industry’s move to the cloud. To this end, Doyle introduced the Azure Security and Compliance Blueprint, which provides automated processes for ingesting, storing, analyzing, and interacting with sensitive and regulated data. Released under an MIT open source license, the blueprint is designed to help customers accelerate their ability to develop AI solutions to solve clinical and operational use case scenarios, while maintaining security, privacy, and compliance obligations.

While Tom and John discussed systems of insight for the clinical aspects of healthcare, Hector Rodriguez, Chief Security Officer at Worldwide Health, demonstrated how the same concept can be applied to security and compliance.

In a session titled “Defense Against the Dark (Cyber) Arts,” Rodriguez spoke about how healthcare providers leverage Microsoft’s intelligent security to protect their identities and data while gaining increased visibility into cyber security and risk scores. He stressed that health organizations should be data-driven and integrate AI and machine learning into their security workflows – a point that was re-emphasized by Wes Wright, CTO of Sutter Health, as he shared how his organization leverages Office 365 and Microsoft’s security capabilities to strengthen patient care.

Cloudneeti, another partner in the security space, was on-hand to demonstrate how the cloud compliance tools they provide enable health organizations to accurately report their security and risk posture to their boards, as well as understand where improvements can be made in their security framework.

Center care on people with systems of engagement

Building on systems of insight, systems of engagement offer new ways to enhance the patient experience. A number of health organizations today use outdated clinical systems that limit their ability to effectively engage with others outside their local networks. Systems of engagement go beyond these traditional capabilities to help health organizations build stronger connections with patients and enable increased collaboration between staff.

As patient expectations of the care experience continue to rise, it’s imperative that health organizations invest in systems of engagement. Patients today not only compare their provider relationship to other healthcare organizations, but also to the experiences they have as consumers. As such, health companies must dramatically improve their patient engagement experience to match the seamless interactions individuals find in the retail space.

At a session on the consumerization of healthcare, Andrew Tran, Director of Worldwide Health, highlighted how patient-centric platforms are already transforming the patient experience. He invited Tom Pacek, the CIO of New Jersey health system Inspira, and Jeff Fisher, Principal & Director of Microsoft partner Intraprise, to discuss how Intraprise has enabled Inspira to better understand their patients and create personalized experiences. By tracking patient interactions and streamlining access to this data through the cloud, Inspira delivers concierge-level customer service, engaging with patients the right way, through the right channel, at the right time.

Attendees also discovered Oneview Healthcare’s new tool for enhancing the healthcare experience for pediatric patients and their families. In partnership with the Sydney Children’s Hospital Network, and utilizing Microsoft Azure technology, they developed the My Health Memory app, which enables seamless clinical documentation, appointment management, and documentation sharing.

Announcing new solutions

While at HIMSS, we announced new solutions that enable health organizations to implement systems of engagement for increased collaboration between care teams.

During a session on the modern workplace, Paul Smolke, Director of Worldwide Health, and Connor Flanagan, Industry Solutions Manager at Worldwide Health, spoke about Microsoft’s partnership with Avanade to streamline the tumor board process. Avanade VP of Digital Workplace, Thomas Hoglund, explained that by digitizing tumor boards, health organizations can help reduce the number of time-consuming in-person meetings and enable specialists to see three times as many cases. Additionally, the collaborative digital environment makes documentation faster and easier.

At Microsoft’s Health Innovation Theater, Connor Flanagan presented on the Health Team Collaboration solution, which includes templates for digitizing health team huddles. By replacing notecards and whiteboards with a collaborative digital workspace, health teams can streamline the development of new processes. Using a bot solution, ideas are automatically captured, categorized, assigned to a stakeholder, and tracked.

Using this approach, effective patient care and collaboration strategies can be shared across organizations more easily. For example, if one team successfully lowers their infection rate, the protocol and success metrics they use are made available to other teams, who can then build strategies around an established approach.

The Health Innovation Theater also showcased how a variety of companies are utilizing cutting-edge technology, such as blockchain and mixed reality, to advance digital health. MintHealth discussed how blockchain adds value to certain real health scenarios, and presented a blockchain-based population health and care management solution. Healthcare NExT demonstrated their intelligent and compliant chatbots that are designed to improve conversations between patients, providers, payors, and pharma, with the goal of improving patient care and outcomes.

Rabin Medical Center presented a mixed reality solution to tackle the complex challenge of navigating liver tissue in surgery. Their Microsoft HoloLens-compatible software reconstructs liver imaging into a three-dimensional holographic object that serves as a guide for liver surgeons, enabling them to remove liver tumors while avoiding injury to vulnerable structures.

New solutions in precision medicine, acute crisis care, and patient engagement, also stole the show. 2bPrecise presented their point-of-care precision medicine platform, and demonstrated how they’re ushering in the next era of genetic testing by providing physicians with the tools to implement actionable, clinically-translated genomic intelligence into their workflows. Another Microsoft partner, AiR Healthcare Solutions, wants to shift treatment for people with behavioral health disorders from acute crisis care to a value-based model that promotes sustained communication and accountability for outcomes. To do so, they launched the AiRCare disease management service, which has delivered personalized care and clinical insights to more than 50,000 individuals.

Learn more

With systems of insight and engagement, technology serves as an enabler, rather than the cause of change. And, by integrating these new technologies into well-designed systems, people are ultimately the drivers of digital transformation.

Learn more about Microsoft’s presence at HIMSS 2018 and our vision for intelligent health:

• Virtual Booth
• Whitepaper

The post How the Cloud and Mixed Reality are Transforming Patient Care appeared first on Microsoft Industry Blogs.

In 2009, the HITECH act disrupted the healthcare landscape by forcing providers to rethink the way they collected and stored patient information¹. Today’s healthcare providers face a paradigm shift of similar magnitude. Confronted with changing payment models, evolving patient expectations, and growing workloads, providers are being forced to change the way they care for patients. To deliver the increased efficiency, improved outcomes, and cost reductions that define success in this environment, physicians are turning to genomics. By applying advanced analytics to genetic data, providers are partnering with technology companies to develop precision medicine techniques that make it easier to treat patients. Here’s how today’s providers are using precision medicine to respond to three key challenges.

Delivering improved outcomes with genomic analysis

The emergence of value-based payment models is driving healthcare providers to improve patient outcomes. To reduce treatment costs and ensure patients receive quality care, health systems are replacing traditional fee-for-service payment models with value-based approaches that link provider reimbursement with care outcomes. In the United States, for example, almost 60% of payments will be value-based by 2021². Remaining profitable, or even viable, in this outcome-oriented world requires providers to treat patients both efficiently and effectively, as pursuing unnecessary or ineffective treatments that aren’t fully reimbursed harms the bottom line. While providing quality care has always been a moral imperative for physicians, it’s now a financial imperative too.

Precision medicine empowers providers to deliver the outcomes value-based care demands. While providers already use genomic analysis to improve outcomes for cancer patients, the declining cost of DNA sequencing enables physicians to leverage precision medicine at scale. Innovative new solutions combine genomic data with clinical, social, and environmental factors to help providers understand patients and tailor treatment plans to account for underlying traits. These customized treatment plans drive the positive care outcomes that matter to physicians and give patients access to the personalized care experiences they now expect.

Personalizing care with tailored treatment plans

In addition to demanding improved outcomes, today’s patients are seeking a consumer-centric experience. As a result, they expect high-quality care and will change providers to find it—more than 85% of people indicate they will switch providers if they aren’t satisfied with their care experience³. For patients, quality healthcare and personalized healthcare are one and the same. According to a recent study of healthcare consumers, access to personalized care is their top priority, outranking even cost and convenience⁴.

To provide the consumer experience today’s patients expect, physicians are turning to precision medicine. Where traditional approaches require providers to use their expertise and patient records alone to identify viable treatment options, precision medicine solutions use genomic data to generate customized treatment plans. By accounting for the multitude factors that make each human unique, these solutions help providers use their training and expertise to deliver a personalized patient experience, even in the face of increasing workloads.

Tackling growing workloads with actionable insights

In addition to changing payment models and heightened consumer experience expectations, today’s clinicians have to manage rapidly increasing workloads. Growing and aging populations need more care, and healthcare professionals are becoming scarce—by 2030, providers will face a shortage of 14 million workers worldwide⁵. As a result, physicians are struggling with more demanding workloads. In the United States, for example, 81% of physicians feel they are at capacity or overworked⁶. To continue delivering high-quality care in this environment, providers need to be efficient.

Precision medicine tools arm physicians with actionable insights, enabling them to save time while maintaining a high quality of care. By using intelligent solutions to compare each patient’s genome with external databases, precision medicine helps providers optimize treatment plans faster. Rather than consulting literature or pursuing multiple treatments to determine which options are effective, precision medicine empowers providers to make data-driven decisions that help them care for more patients without compromising outcomes.

In the face of growing workloads, changing payment models, and shifting patient expectations, precision medicine enables physicians to do what matters most: deliver high-quality care.

Partnering with industry leaders to serve patients more effectively

Microsoft is committed to helping healthcare providers realize the benefits of precision medicine. In collaboration with BC Platforms, a trusted partner to healthcare providers and research institutions around the world, Microsoft is pleased to offer GeneVision for Precision Medicine, a genomics solution that provides today’s physicians with the actionable insights they need to treat patients effectively. Leveraging BC Platforms’ extensive experience building genomic data management and analysis solutions, GeneVision uses patients’ genetic data to arm physicians with recommendations that can enhance their outcomes. To explore how you can serve your patients more effectively, visit AppSource to learn more about GeneVision.

^[1] USF Health, Hitech Act Summary, 2017

² Beckers, Payers estimate 59% of payments will be value-based by 2021, 2016

³ West, Prioritizing the Patient Experience, Undated

⁴ Deloitte, Health plans: What matters most to the health care consumer, 2016

⁵ WHO, Global strategy on human resources for health, 2016

⁶ Physician’s Foundation, 2014 Survey of America’s Physicians. 2014

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Introduction

Everybody has their differences, but one thing that most people agree on is their general dislike for interacting with regulatory agencies. Long wait times, confusingly endless forms, and standing in the wrong line plague people’s perceptions of licensing and permitting. But if it’s frustrating for those on the outside, it must be equally difficult to for those on the inside – the employees who actually have to manage and process this constant flow of applications; all while keeping track of constantly changing regulations.

Many regulatory organizations still have applicants fill out and submit paper forms at a general collection point, which are then manually sorted and distributed to the appropriate department. With all the licenses and permits that now govern society, how is it that the technology supporting this entire industry has not evolved with the times?

With the advancements in cloud technology, internet security and the movement of digital transformation, it is now possible to digitize the entire license and permitting process. This shift makes licensees happier while also enabling regulatory agencies to work more efficiently through automation. Let’s take a look at how cloud technology transformed the license application process.

Applying

Meet Sam. He’s a chiropractor fresh from his exams and looking to open up his own practice. Instead of heading to his nearest licensing office, he picks up his phone and navigates to the regulatory board’s website, clicking through the easy-to-use portal. First, he creates a profile, recording basic information like his name, age, and address. Sam starts filling out the license application while sitting on his couch, uploading the required forms – school degrees, test scores, background check, and personal references.

He taps submit on the application and gets a notification that he forgot to upload proof of malpractice insurance. Sam walks over to his computer where he has a stored scanned copy, logs in, and immediately finds his almost-completed application. After uploading the insurance form, he enters payment details and hits “apply”. Immediately, he gets an email notification on his phone saying that his application is under review along with a tracking link for him to stay informed during the process.

Approval to Register

Once submitted, the license application is automatically routed to the regulatory agent in charge of approvals. The agent opens the application, sees that all the right forms are immediately available and grins as she remembers the pain of managing physical scans or searching for the inevitably misfiled or forgotten form.

Because all the information is at her fingertips, she quickly reviews Sam’s application, confirms all the relevant information has been included, and marks the application as approved to be registered. The agent then returns to the cloud-based dashboard to finish generating the required reports for her supervisor. With just a few clicks, she has the information that she needs and sends off the report.

Registering

And back to Sam, who gets the email notification that his license application to register has been accepted while he’s picking up a coffee. He taps the link provided in the email, and completes the remaining online forms while waiting for his latte. Sam finishes the process by paying the registration fee online by the time he’s back in the office.

Renewal

The following year, Sam gets an email in his inbox informing him that he needs to renew his license and provide proof that he has maintained compliance by completing the required continuing education hours. Sam remembers how easy it was to apply for the license, and thinks that renewing should be even easier. Using his phone, Sam logs in to the portal to make updates. The system prompts him to verify his personal information, and Sam realizes that he needs to update the address of his office. He then navigates to the Education link, uploads the relevant documentation, and finishes the process by paying online for the membership fees. The automated workflow triggers the same process as before, automatically routing the information to a regulatory agent for approval. Sam again tracks the status of his license renewal through the portal, and when it’s done, he receives notification that the renewal has been approved.

Conclusion

This quick and painless process is now possible through Adoxio’s Regulate 365 solution. Built on secure Microsoft cloud technology, Regulate 365 transforms end-to-end licensing and permitting processes with an online, self-service portal and automated administrative workflows. To learn more about Regulate 365, visit Microsoft AppSource today.

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Where once space was considered the final frontier for human exploration, today we increasingly appreciate the importance of looking inward to explore the building blocks of human life, the genome. Since the first human genome was sequenced in 2003, our understanding of this code for life has grown by leaps and bounds, creating new opportunities to apply this knowledge to improving human health and well-being.

One such opportunity lies in individualized patient reporting for clinical stakeholders, which provides genetic risk scores and lends insights into how genes affect a patient’s predicted drug responses and susceptibility to certain diseases and conditions. This data enables providers to overcome one-size-fits-all healthcare models, meet new safety and efficacy requirements, and move toward a new consumer-centric delivery, opening a new frontier of precision and preventative medicine.

Genomic data delivers the insights physicians need

Until now, providers have leveraged genomics primarily for oncology and treatment of rare diseases, limiting the benefits to a small population. However, with technological advancements rapidly driving down genome sequencing costs, genomics is poised to transform healthcare by delivering clinical insights at population scale.

Despite the growing desire to integrate genomics into their healthcare approach, many providers lack a long-term, scalable genomics strategy. Currently, they order genomic tests for patients on an as-needed basis, limiting the insights derived and reducing the potential benefits that could be realized from broader application.

Forward-thinking providers should actively pursue a longer-term strategy that enables them to generate genomic data on a larger scale, resulting in a greater pool of population data that can be used across multiple care scenarios. This reduces time and costs associated with collecting and analyzing genomic data because providers no longer need to order a new genomic test each time the patient requires treatment.

With an effective long-term strategy for genomics in healthcare, providers can leverage patient genotypic and clinical data together to tailor treatment to each patient, thereby improving and accelerating patient outcomes and reducing the risk of adverse reactions.

For example, consider how pharmacogenomic insights enable an improved outcome in a pain management case: Mary Slater, a 37-year-old mother of two toddlers, recently injured her back. Given her level of activity as a nurse and a mother, and her description of pain levels, her provider is considering prescribing codeine, an opioid pain reliever commonly prescribed for patients in similar circumstances. Before making a decision, her provider checks her pharmacogenomic report and finds that Mary possesses a genetic variant that makes her an ultra-rapid metabolizer for codeine. This means that her genetic makeup causes codeine to turn into morphine in her body too quickly, potentially causing life-threatening respiratory depression at normal dosage levels. Since codeine is not a suitable option for Mary’s pain therapy, her provider prescribes a safer pain reliever instead.

Mary’s story may be fictional, but it highlights a point that’s all too real. Codeine is the standard second step in the World Health Organization’s guidelines for pain management and one of the most frequently prescribed opioids for a range of conditions.^[1] Yet a normal dose of the drug can prove fatal for some patients. A long-term genomics strategy enables physicians to leverage existing genomic data to provide insights they need to move beyond this one-size-fits-all approach to treatment.

Successful implementation of a long-term strategy for genomics in healthcare requires selecting the right technology solution to manage the processing of raw data into actionable insights. Yet, many providers don’t have an effective end-to-end solution in place.

Providers need a powerful genomic data management and analysis solution

Recognizing the need for a technology solution that fills this need, BC Platforms, a world leader in genomic data management and analysis solutions, created GeneVision for Precision Medicine, an end-to-end genomic data management and analysis solution. GeneVision processes raw genomic data and quickly generates user-friendly patient reports, for example on a patient’s genetic variants that may affect drug responses, as well as other reports. This empowers physicians with clear, actionable insights, facilitating evidence-based treatment decisions.

GeneVision saves time over typical analysis processes by accelerating analysis and offering the flexibility to conduct both genotyping and next-generation sequencing. Furthermore, the solution provides instant access to aggregated genetic variant data from trusted public databases, without the need for additional infrastructure. Throughout this process, providers have assurance that their patient data is highly secure and compliant.

This easy-to-use technology solution forms the backbone for a long-term, comprehensive genomics strategy that enables providers to deliver precision medicine on a population scale.

Partner with BC Platforms

Leverage BC Platforms GeneVision for Precision Medicine to equip your physicians with the tools they need to improve and accelerate patient outcomes. With over twenty years of experience building genomic data management and analysis solutions, BC Platforms is a trusted partner to healthcare providers and research institutions around the world.

Learn more about BC Platforms GeneVision for Precision Medicine on AppSource.

^[1] European Review for Medical and Pharmacological Sciences

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Transform professional licenses with new technology

For those who work in regulated fields, the pain of obtaining a professional license through an agency is all too familiar. The long lines, the endless forms, and the total black hole of information while waiting for approval or rejection make for a difficult, hard to navigate experience for applicants. It’s also a terrible process for those who actually handle professional license and permit applications – the regulatory employees. On the other side of the counter, employees deal with an application management process that has not advanced much in the last 20 years.  Let’s look at three factors that make life more painful for regulatory employees: disparate systems, repetitive and menial tasks, and dealing with complaints from the public.

Pain Point #1: Disparate Systems

Like most companies, regulatory agencies have slowly incorporated various technologies as they’ve become available. And while these technologies have helped individual departments or processes, they’ve culminated in duplicative systems that may provide differing information for the same piece of data. This makes it very difficult for employees to determine which piece of data is correct, resulting in inaccurate reports and analyses. Disparate systems also reduce an employee’s efficiency, as they must check different systems for the relevant answers and the same piece of data. This wasted time is too valuable to, especially when auditing existing licenses to ensure they are still compliant and public safety is on the line. In today’s busy work environment, taking time to search multiple systems is something employees simply do not want to do.

Pain Point #2: Repetitive, menial tasks

Licensing employees understand the pain of performing tedious tasks on a frequent basis, especially when it prevents them from getting more important work done. From checking old licenses to payment processing to finding the right person to approve an application – these types of tasks take too much away from the important demands of the position. The time wasted having to complete these menial tasks end up producing a domino effect that leads to an even slower and more arduous license and permitting process for potential and current licensees. Not surprisingly, these slow processes culminate in a final pain point – an unhappy public.

Pain Point #3: Unhappy Public

The slow and disjointed license review and approval process leads to many upset licensees. But applicants and regulatory employees aren’t the only people who feel the pain of licensing and permitting. Even though they may not be licensed, citizens get frustrated when they spend too much time trying to find a licensed professional who meets their requirements. Many of these people deal with their unhappiness by complaining to regulatory agents and employees, who can only do so much to ease the public’s pain with their current systems in place. This frustration on both sides is amplified the longer complaints aren’t addressed in a timely manner, which occurs fairly frequently due to a lack of systems that track and manage such complaints.

Addressing these common pain points calls for a regulatory licensing process that streamlines systems, provides greater control for management, and solves for an unhappy public.

Conclusion and Call to Action

Adoxio has partnered with Microsoft to introduce Regulate 365, which connects disparate systems, automates repetitive tasks, and delights customers with streamlined licensing and permitting processes. Regulate 365, built on Microsoft Cloud Technology, is a rich content management and automation system that brings the benefit of the cloud to the licensing and permitting process. With all information in the same platform, regulatory agents can easily gather all the data they need to quickly review and approve professional license and permit applications. Regulate 365 also automates many back-end functions, making it easier to follow up with businesses as compliance changes, gather reports on activities and gain insights into business patterns. With a 24/7 self-service portal, people and businesses can fill out and track their license applications from start to finish.

To learn more, check out Regulate 365 on Microsoft AppSource.

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