Discover the potential of Microsoft AI to improve patient recovery
Zimmer Biomet provides a good example of how health providers can implement AI solutions to deliver a better service to patients. Let’s discover their success story.
The organization
Zimmer Biomet is a healthcare technology company that develops medical devices. They’re based in Indiana (United States), where Zimmer Biomet was founded in 1927. Now, they employ around 17,000 workers in 31 global offices.
Their solutions serve orthopedic patients and healthcare professionals treating them. Zimmer Biomet aims to alleviate pain and improve quality of life before, during, and after orthopedic surgeries. Innovation is a key to reach this goal.
The challenge
In the last period, the healthcare industry faced workforce shortages3 and burnout,4 increased labor expenses, supply disruptions, the impact of inflation, and overall losses and operating margin decline.5 This context makes increasing productivity and technological efficiency a top priority for businesses in the sector.
Besides, there’s a growing demand for decentralized care. Orthopedic patients often experience limited mobility, so it’s fundamental to minimize the times they need to move to the hospital or any other healthcare facility.
The solution
Zimmer Biomet realized their first step should be to adopt a full data/AI strategy. The Azure environment establishes a responsible framework to protect the patients’ data. Azure products are designed to help healthcare companies comply with medical privacy requirements.
In particular, Zimmer Biomet decided to use Microsoft products like Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS) and Azure Machine Learning. They help developers build scalable AI systems and manage the whole data science process.
The mymobility app: An assistant for the recovery process
Then, Zimmer Biomet developed mymobility®, a patient engagement app that collects gait data and patient-reported data. This app enables patients who have had hip and knee replacements to better understand how they’re recovering. It helps them assess their mobility and pain levels to confirm if they’re within the expectable limits for the post-operative period.
WalkAI: The first AI predictive analytics model for orthopedics
The next step was to feed the data gathered by mymobility to an AI system. This is how WalkAI™ was born. This state-of-the-art AI model contextualizes a patient’s gait recovery with other patients’ data. Ninety days after a knee or hip replacement, the AI can confirm whether a patient is on the right track or whether they should be a bit more active.
The results
Zimmer Biomet’s AI transformation is enabling them to take better care of patients. The combination of mymobility and WalkAI empowers patients to track their process from their homes. WalkAI’s near-real-time predictive model is revolutionary in the orthopedics industry. Now, the patient can take a more active role in their recovery and reassures them when they’re progressing as expected.
Furthermore, they’re better equipped to take the decision whether to consult a clinician when feeling surgery-related inconveniences. So, clinicians have more time to assist the patients that really need medical attention.
To learn more, read Zimmer Biomet uses novel Azure-based AI model to predict individual patient gait speed recovery outcomes after joint replacement surgery.
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