Taha Kass-Hout, MD, former and first-ever CIO for the FDA and a senior leader of artificial intelligence at Amazon, detailed how the tech giant is using AI for its healthcare services in a recent interview with STAT. A core component of Amazon's healthcare strategy is to support clinicians, according to Dr. Kass-Hout. "I hope we see that with AI we're finally getting to understand what patient has a disease, rather than what disease a patient has -- and truly start personalizing care to that level," Dr. Kass-Hout told STAT. "From a patient perspective and consumer perspective, AI is going to empower them, and for providers and healthcare systems, it's going to augment clinicians and bridge gaps." Dr. Kass-Hout also provided an update on how healthcare companies are using AWS' EHR-mining software Comprehend Medical, which launched in November 2018.

Sight Diagnostics, an Israeli medical devices startup that's using AI technology to speed up blood testing, has closed a $27.8 million Series C funding round. The company has built a desktop machine, called OLO, that analyzes cartridges manually loaded with drops of the patient's blood -- performing blood counts in situ. The new funding is led by VC firm Longliv Ventures, also based in Israel, and a member of the multinational conglomerate CK Hutchison Group. Sight Diagnostics said it was after strategic investment for the Series C -- specifically investors that could contribute to its technological and commercial expansion. And on that front CK Hutchison Group's portfolio includes more than 14,500 health and beauty stores across Europe and Asia, providing a clear go-to-market route for the company's OLO blood testing device.

Medical imaging provides a window into the human body, allowing us to see under the skin. But to really understand what's going on inside our bodies, doctors need 3D imagery. And there's no time this would be more helpful than during surgery. Now, ImFusion, a Munich-based startup and NVIDIA Inception program member, is taking medical imaging into the next dimension. It's using AI to turn 2D ultrasound data into 3D images.

When it comes to the future of healthcare, perhaps the only technology more powerful than CRISPR is artificial intelligence. Over the past five years, healthcare AI startups around the globe raised over $4.3 billion across 576 deals, topping all other industries in AI deal activity. During this same period, the FDA has given 70 AI healthcare tools and devices'fast-tracked approval' because of their ability to save both lives and money. The pace of AI-augmented healthcare innovation is only accelerating. In Part 3 of this blog series on longevity and vitality, I cover the different ways in which AI is augmenting our healthcare system, enabling us to live longer and healthier lives.

In the United States, the average patient sees a physician just three times per year, according to the CDC, for visits lasting just 20 minutes each. Doctors, for their part, put more time into administrative tasks than face-to-face care: every hour spent with patients takes about two hours at the desk for documentation and other tasks, according to a Stanford study. More than half of all doctors report symptoms of burnout. In the United States, the average patient sees a physician just three times per year, for visits lasting just 20 minutes each. Voice-driven artificial intelligence (AI) can help cure the time shortage on both ends of the spectrum.

In a recent speech at the Bipartisan Policy Center conference, FDA Commissioner, Scott Gottlieb, discussed how the future success of clinical trials will be underpinned by new streams of real world data (RWD). This includes information collected from electronic health records, lab tests, wearable devices, insurance claims and even social media. As he made clear, "digital technologies are one of the most promising tools we have for making health care more efficient and more patient-focused". The FDA believes that these new approaches to collecting data and the utilization of new technology can radically expand the sources of data available. This will offer important evidence on both the product safety and effectiveness in settings and populations that are notably different to those used within approved trials.

If you're not a member of the healthcare community, then you might not be aware of a quiet crisis creeping up on hospitals all over the country: not enough nurses and too many patients. This trend is partially fueled by the Baby Boomers who are reaching old age. Baby Boomer nurses are beginning to retire, leaving a shortfall of skilled and experienced healthcare providers. The Boomer generation as a whole requires more medical care as they enter their 60s and 70s. Complex problems like the nursing shortage require creative solutions.

In July 2017 the US FDA (Food and Drug Administration) launched its Digital Health Innovation Action Plan to provide Americans "timely access to safe and effective digital health products," many of which are being developed using artificial intelligence technologies. A key component of the Digital Health Innovation Action Plan is the innovative Software Precertification (Pre-Cert) Pilot Program, which a number of AI-based digital health projects have already completed, spiking FDA AI Med approvals in 2018. Synced takes a look at some of these companies and their FDA 510(K) clearance and Premarket Approval (PMA) AI-empowered medical product innovations. IDx is a technology company applying AI in medical diagnostics. In April 2018 the company received FDA premarket approval (PMA) for its product IDx-DR, an AI diagnostic system that detects signs of diabetic retinopathy in retinal images.

A new anonymous texting bot program is aimed at helping children, teenagers and young adults quit using Juuls and other e-cigarettes. Developed by the large anti-smoking and public health non-profit the Truth Initiative, the text-based coaching is being integrated into the group's This Is Quitting and BecomeAnEx online quitting aids. The need for adolescent-focused programs is dire, according to a slew of recent studies and declarations of a youth vaping'epidemic' from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the Surgeon General. FDA Commissioner Gottlieb called for cessation drugs for teens last month, but in the mean time the Truth Initiative's program hopes to help fill that void with text-coaching designed with teens in mind. Truth Initiative's new program texts encouragement geared toward teenagers who are trying to quit vaping in general - but focuses on the addictive Juul in particular Between 2017 and 2018, the number of high school students using e-cigarettes double, according to a University of Michigan study published in December. The rise of vaping was the steepest single-year change documented by the survey in all of its 44 years - a greater increase than has ever been seen in teen drinking, smoking or drug use.

President Trump delivered his third address for the first time in front of a divided Congress. Here are the best moments. After the longest and most controversial government shutdown in history, President Trump used his State of the Union address Tuesday to focus the nation on policies which can unite rather than divide us. The president laid out a five-pillar strategy which included issues critical to the growth of the technology industry and the health of our overall economy: immigration reform, investments in technology and infrastructure, and curbing health care costs. Specifically, he called for a "safe, lawful, modern and secure" immigration system.