Belfast-based Global Health Connector and Qualcomm Technologies have launched a global alliance focused on the use of AI-enabled wearables and on-device intelligence in healthcare.
The Personal AI Health Alliance (PAIHA) brings together healthcare and technology organisations including Optum, Scripps Health, Merck, the Digital Medicine Society and Biocom.
The alliance will explore the commercialisation and use of AI-enabled wearable health technologies, including how continuous real-world data can support more personalised care.
It will focus on three areas: perceptive, proactive and proximal intelligence.
The first covers the use of continuous sensing through wearable devices to provide more contextual information about a person’s health and wellbeing.
The second focuses on using that information to provide more timely health insights, while the third will examine how personal health information is processed, stored and shared.
The alliance said on-device AI could allow some health data to be processed locally rather than transmitted beyond a device, potentially supporting privacy, personalisation and data stewardship.
Global Health Connector’s Bleddyn Rees said healthcare was “data-rich but often insight-poor”.
“The real opportunity lies in turning data into actionable intelligence that improves outcomes for everyone,” he said.
“PAIHA has the potential to enable true ‘CollaborAction’ across providers, payors, technology companies, medTech and pharmaceutical organisations to unlock the full value of health data.”
Qualcomm Technologies senior vice president and general manager of XR, Wearables and Personal AI Ziad Asghar said the alliance was focused on bringing personal AI and intelligent wearables into healthcare.
“We believe this is an important inflection point, as we aim to bring the best of healthcare and technology together for more accessible, personalised and proactive healthcare experiences,” he said.
Merck global head of integrated health and medicines Emre Ozcan said the company saw an opportunity to move from episodic care towards more continuous health support.
“Meaningful health insights can emerge between appointments, not only during them, and new digital measures, intelligent devices and responsibly designed AI can help us better understand those experiences,” he said.
Optum Health chief medical officer for value-based care Dr Neil Parikh said the alliance provided an opportunity to explore how connected technologies could expand access to health insights.
Scripps Health corporate executive vice president and chief medical and operations officer Dr Anil N. Keswani said healthcare professionals were increasingly looking to understand what happened between traditional points of care.
“PAIHA brings together healthcare and technology leaders to explore how AI and intelligent wearables can help provide richer context and more meaningful insights that support patient care,” he said.
The alliance plans to publish proofs of concept, case studies and details of upcoming events as its work develops.
Ageing Australia Chief Technology Advisor and Pulse Pod co-host Dr George Margelis is the Australian ambassador for Global Health Connector and would be working with its APAC team to boost local involvement.
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