Silicon Valley: R Bharat Rao, senior director of Engineering Research Development, Computer-aided Diagnosis and Therapy Group at Siemens Medical Solutions, an American scientist of Indian origin was named ‘Inventor of the Year’ for his work in developing a new system that utilizes data to improve patient care and clinical decisions. He is one of 12 Siemens inventors to receive the award.

Siemens AG President and CEO Dr. Klaus Kleinfeld recently presented an "Inventor of the Year" award to R. Bharat Rao, Ph.D., and senior director, Engineering Research Development, Computer-Aided Diagnosis and Therapy Group, Siemens Medical Solutions. Siemens Medical Solutions of Siemens AG (NYSE:SI) with headquarters in Malvern, Pennsylvania and Erlangen, Germany, is one of the largest suppliers to the healthcare industry in the world.

The company is known for bringing together innovative medical technologies, healthcare information systems, management consulting, and support services, to help customers achieve tangible, sustainable, clinical and financial outcomes. Employing approximately 31,000 people worldwide and operating in more than 120 countries, Siemens Medical Solutions reported sales of 7.6 billion EUR, orders of 8.6 billion EUR and group profit of 976 million EUR for fiscal 2005 (preliminary figures).

Dr. Rao was recognized for his pioneering work in developing an automated data collection and analysis tool known as REMIND (Reliable Extraction and Meaningful Inference from Nonstructural Data), which enables caregivers to utilize disparate healthcare information to personalize patient care plans and enhance patient outcomes. "Much of the data in the healthcare system is not in a format that can be readily accessed or applied at the point of care," said Dr. Rao. "For example, key clinical information is stored as written text in patient records, discharge summaries, progress notes and radiology reports."

Without requiring any manual entry or change in workflow, REMIND integrates patient data with medical information and current treatment guidelines. Through a sophisticated algorithm, REMIND then analyzes the data and extracts key nuggets of information that will help clinicians make more informed treatment decisions. This information can be utilized for applications such as alerts, case management, and adherence to treatment guidelines. Dr. Rao's vision is to organize the vast amount of diagnostic images, patient records, best practices and treatment outcomes to help personalize care. According to Dr. Rao, REMIND will provide ways to review years of data to find patterns of treatment, as well as identify people eligible for clinical trials.

"We are not replacing the doctor with computer-aided diagnosis. The word 'aided' is specifically important in healthcare. We've come to accept that other aspects of our lives, such as the cars we drive or the airplanes we travel in, will have some elements controlled by computers, but it is much harder to accept that computers can assist doctors so that they can provide better, more accurate care," explained Dr. Rao. "At Siemens, we recognize that one of our most important competitive advantages are the employees who help the company continue our tradition of innovation. With REMIND, Dr. Rao has developed a tool that will have a positive impact on the healthcare industry, and deliver significant advantages to our customers," said Tom McCausland, president, Siemens Medical Solutions USA.

"Siemens has been a leader in developing healthcare information technology solutions for over 30 years, and we intend to maintain that leadership position into the future. Now with the global push for electronic health records, we will continue to deliver innovative tools that make implementation of these solutions seamless and beneficial to healthcare providers."

REMIND has been successfully rolled out to a number of healthcare facilities and can be applied at all levels of complexity, from simple practice administration to patient management systems in large clinics. REMIND is currently deployed across multiple disease areas for more than five million patients in the United States.

Dr. Rao received his undergraduate training from the Indian Institute of Technology, Madras, in his native India, and then earned master's and doctoral degrees in electrical engineering from the University of Illinois, the doctorate focusing on machine learning.

Release Source: www.c2b2bnews.com

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