Cerner, Amazon Web Services partner on new cloud-based cognitive health platform

Health IT company Cerner is leveraging its partnership with Amazon Web Services to launch a new cloud-based health platform to incorporate artificial intelligence to improve usability and provide predictive insights for patient care. The new platform, called Project Apollo, brings a more cognitive approach to practicing medicine, Cerner Chairman and CEO Brent Shafer said during his keynote address at Cerner Health Conference, according to a company press release. Shafer said the new platform will leverage Cerner's health care technology and the AWS infrastructure to accelerate the speed that innovations are integrated by removing manual steps for clients that slow the pace of adoption. Cerner also is creating an "intelligence ecosystem" to innovate next-generation user experiences and care delivery algorithms, the company said. We're looking to return the joy of delivering medicine, and we're focused on innovating for the future and delivering better usability today," Shafer said. The Kanas City-based company also announced new predictive modeling tools to help reduce opioid abuse, improved dashboards and analytics, and a new capability aimed at enhancing interoperability in the healthcare industry. In July, Cerner announced a collaboration with cloud giant AWS, which is part of Amazon, with the aim of accelerating healthcare innovation. As part of the agreement, Cerner named AWS its preferred cloud provider. During his keynote speech, Shafer said Cerner will focus on several key areas in its broader strategy to innovate with Amazon, including turning data into insights, increasing interoperability and usability, and rapid development and deployment, according to the Kansas City Business Journal. Matt Wood, vice president of artificial intelligence for AWS, also spoke at the conference on the partnership with Cerner and the possibilities that arise when companies can access "infrastructure as if it was a utility, according to the Kansas City Business Journal.