South Korea expands telemedicine pilot project
Starting December 15, South Korea’s Ministry of Health and Welfare will introduce additional measures to its national telemedicine pilot project.
According to a media release, the program now allows telemedicine services to be carried out at night and on holidays.
Patients who have received face-to-face treatment in a clinic in the last six months can now also access telemedicine.
Around 100 islands and isolated areas where health services remain inaccessible have also been designated as “medically vulnerable areas” where telemedicine can also be provided.
Additionally, the program prohibits the uploading of original prescriptions via a telemedicine application to prevent falsification. Recently, it came to the department’s attention that some providers had been prescribing commonly abused medications in violation of the telemedicine rule.
Synapxe integrates Lunit AI CXR into 2 SingHealth hospitals
Singapore General Hospital and Changi General Hospital, both under SingHealth, recently adopted Lunit’s AI-based chest x-ray solution.
Synapxe, Singapore’s national health technology agency, has integrated the Lunit INSIGHT CXR into the clinical radiology workflow of the two hospitals through AimSG, the national AI platform for medical imaging.
The integration was initiated through Lunit’s partnership with NTT DATA Singapore, which is also part of the AimSG project. Lunit’s AI is expected to help improve hospitals’ ability to interpret and diagnose lung diseases.
Lunit purchases Volpara AI mammography solution
In other related news, Lunit also announced the purchase of New Zealand AI mammography solutions company Volpara Health Technologies for $193 million.
The acquisition will support Lunit’s expansion in the United States, where Volpara is adopted in more than 2,000 medical sites.
Absorbing Volpara’s repository of more than 100 million high-quality mammogram images will also “boost” the company’s AI capabilities, he said.
