When people hear “ultrasound,” they usually think of a pregnant woman’s chance to see her baby for the first time. But ultrasound technology has the potential to be widely used in healthcare, and bringing it to the point of care will allow doctors to gain insight into what’s going on inside a patient’s body.
That’s why Exo (pronounced “echo”), a company that sells instant ultrasound software, recently cooperating and Henry Ford Innovationthe commercialization arm of Detroit-based Henry Ford Health, to make its platform accessible to more physicians.
Founded in 2015, Exo has developed a software platform focused on physician workflow, which the company says is the most important unsolved problem in mobile ultrasound. The platform is designed to address the industry’s lack of portable ultrasound solutions that can be easily adapted to clinicians’ daily work and integrated into an organization’s IT infrastructure. Without these capabilities, mobile ultrasound solutions often face ongoing issues with compliance, education, and reimbursement.
“We’re focused on providing the underlying technology layer, rather than simply giving people a box and saying ‘go use this box and take an image,'” said Sandeep Akkaraju, Exo’s co-founder and CEO.
Akkaraju says this sets Exo apartOther companies that offer portable ultrasound software such as Clarius Mobile Health or Butterfly Network.
The company’s platform, called Exo Works, is unveil March. It enables physicians to easily document, review, bill and manage quality assurance for point-of-care ultrasound. In addition, it integrates with most hospital electronic medical records and picture archiving and communication systems.
The goal of Exo Works’ mobile-first approach is to increase the volume of ultrasound examinations performed at the point of care. The platform can be accessed from a mobile phone, tablet or web browser, allowing doctors to work from anywhere. When designing the software, Akkaraju said his team wanted it to work like “any lifestyle app a doctor might have installed on his phone.” He believes prioritizing ease-of-use will help more physicians participate in adopting the technology.
“It’s about making sure that the tools medical providers have are on par with the tools they use in their personal lives,” Akkaraju said. “What would happen if your imaging software was as easy to use as Instagram?”
Exo’s partnership with Henry Ford aims to validate the effectiveness and ease of use of its technology. Henry Ford will gain access to Exo Works and the handheld ultrasound device the company is developing. Exo Works also integrates with most portable ultrasound devices.
Exo will work closely with Dr. Henry Ford to understand how the software fits into their daily workflow and determine what changes can be made to improve clinician satisfaction and usage. The company will also work with Dr. Henry Ford to help commercialize the handheld device it is developing.
Additionally, Exo is building artificial intelligence technology to make it easier for clinicians to capture and read ultrasound images. Henry Ford will help Exo develop its algorithms by providing clinical data and to adopt and help validate the technology.
Exo selected Henry Ford as a partner to test its technology at scale — a health system with more than 6,000 physicians in 250 locations. Henry Ford was also the first academic medical center to incorporate mobile ultrasound technology into its curriculum, according to Akkaraju. He said Henry Ford training medical students in the technique before they choose a specialty or enter a residency allows more physicians to be educated on point-of-care ultrasound.
“Henry Ford has a huge scale, and understanding how technology like this works in different settings and in the hands of different physicians is very valuable to us,” Akkaraju said. “We see ourselves as tool makers – we have to understand how our tools are actually used in practice.”
Photo: DjelicS, Getty Images
