An Indian-American scientist has been named 'Inventor of the Year' for his pioneering work in developing a new system, which utilises data to improve patient care and clinical decisions.
R Bharat Rao, senior director of Engineering Research Development, Computer-Aided Diagnosis and Therapy Group at Siemens Medical Solutions, is one of 12 Siemens inventors to receive the award.
Rao of Malvern, Pennsylvania was chosen from Siemens' 57,000 research and development employees worldwide for his pioneering work in developing an automated data collection and analysis tool, REMIND, that enables caregivers to utilise disparate healthcare information to personalise patient care plans and enhance patient outcomes.
"Much of the data in the healthcare system is not in a format that can be readily accessed or applied at the point of care," Rao, an IIT graduate from Madras, said, adding, "For example, key clinical information is stored as written text in patient records, discharge summaries, progress notes and radiology reports."
Without requiring any manual entry or change in workflow, REMIND (Reliable Extraction and Meaningful Inference from Nonstructured Data), integrates patient data with medical information and current treatment guidelines.
Through a sophisticated algorithm, REMIND then analyses the data and extracts key nuggets of information that will help clinicians make more informed treatment decisions.
This information can be then utilised for applications such as alerts, case management and adherence to treatment guidelines.