Mayo Clinic announces partnership with Google Cloud

The Mayo Clinic has announced a partnership with Google Cloud, which involves storing patient data in the cloud and using artificial intelligence (AI) to develop innovative technologies and products to improve care.

In a blog post, Thomas Kurian, CEO of Google Cloud outlined details of the 10-year partnership, which will focus on improving patient and clinical experiences, diagnostics, and patient outcomes.

Kurian said in the post that Google Cloud will be “at the cornerstone” of Mayo Clinic’s digital transformation, providing cloud and AI technology to allow the hospital to develop a digital strategy to improve diagnosis and treatment of disease.

This will include development of machine-learning models for serious and complex diseases, which Mayo hopes to share with health organisations worldwide.

Google will open a new office near Mayo Clinic’s headquarters in Rochester, Minnesota, to allow closer working between the two organisations.

Kurian said: “Working alongside Mayo Clinic’s world-leading medical experts and researchers, we look forward to bringing Google Cloud’s data analytics and AI engineering capabilities to the forefront of patient care.”

Christopher Ross, chief information officer, Mayo Clinic, added: “With Google Cloud’s secure and compliant digital platform, we will be able to leverage innovative cloud technology, industry leading AI and healthcare specific solutions, so we can focus on revolutionising healthcare delivery and taking care of our patients.”

This is just the latest in a series of healthcare-based deals involving Google – in August NTT Data Services partnered with Google Cloud to help clients from hospitals, health plans, and insurance firms to improve their infrastructure.

And in June, Sanofi and Google announced plans to create a virtual innovation lab that aims to better understand patients and diseases, increase efficiency, and improve patient and customer experience.

The companies combine technology and analytics to Sanofi’s real-world data to better understand how treatments work for patients.

Google also owns London-based AI firm DeepMind, which in November last year migrated its mobile assistant for physicians, Streams, into Google Health.