HHS restructures ONC and changes name
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology has been reorganized and renamed the Assistant Secretary for Technology Policy and Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology, or ASTP/ONC.
The revamped federal entity oversees health technology, data, and artificial intelligence policy and strategy for HHS, as well as the roles of chief technology officer, chief data officer, and chief AI officer.
“In addition to our ongoing work in health IT, we will now lead HHS technology and data policy and strategy to help ensure that our complex and multi-faceted department continues to be more than the sum of its parts,” said Micky Tripathi, PhD, HHS’ assistant secretary for technology policy and national coordinator for health information technology, in a Health IT Buzz blog post.
Agilent purchases startup Sigsense Technologies
Agilent Technologies has acquired the startup Sigsense Technologies, which offers an artificial intelligence-based platform for monitoring laboratory instruments.
Prior to the acquisition, Sigsense’s technology was already available to Agilent customers via Agilent’s CrossLab Connect suite of digital applications for asset monitoring, smart alerts, asset lifecycle analytics, inventory management, and service management.
“Integrated into the Agilent CrossLab Connect asset-monitoring solution, Sigsense’s algorithm tracks instrument utilization and status across all scientific assets, regardless of vendor or manufacturer,” according to an Agilent press release. The operational insights collected from Sigsense’s technology alert lab managers to instruments that are underperforming and how to correct the issue.
Sigsense’s employees, intellectual property, and assets are now part of the Agilent CrossLab Group.
Agilent Technologies, 800-227-9770
Proscia introduces new release of workflow offering
The digital and computational pathology solutions provider Proscia has updated its Concentriq AP cloud-based workflow solution with multiple artificial intelligence-based workflows that simultaneously display results from more than one application in the company’s precision medicine AI portfolio for the same image.
“Pathologists can tap into the comprehensive picture these applications collectively provide in a single pane of glass, moving beyond analyzing insights from individual solutions in isolation,” according to a Proscia press release.
The latest version offers applications for breast, colon, gastric, lung, and prostate images.
Other new features and functionality in Concentriq AP include the ability to view and ingest DICOM (Digital Imaging and Communications in Medicine) images; application programming interface updates for the seamless integration of third-party and customer-built AI applications into Concentriq AP’s multiple AI workflows; and support for 13 languages.
Concentriq AP is available for research use only.
Proscia, 215-608-5411
Dr. Aller practices clinical informatics in Southern California. He can be reached at rayaller@gmail.com. Dennis Winsten is founder of Dennis Winsten & Associates, Healthcare Systems Consultants. He can be reached at dennis.winsten@gmail.com.