by
John R. Fischer, Senior Reporter | November 09, 2021
Philips to acquire French cardiac tech company, Cardiologs
Philips has inked a deal to acquire Cardiologs, a French developer of AI and cloud technology for cardiac care.
Among Cardiologs’ products are software, electrocardiogram analysis tools, and reporting services, which are CE-marked and FDA-cleared for detecting cardiac arrhythmias. Its Arrhythmia diagnostic software is a vendor-neutral heart disorder screener that utilizes deep learning technology to monitor patients and identify episodes of atrial fibrillation. The solution is cloud-based and requires no local software installations. Its AI algorithm can divide by 10 the number of false positive atrial fibrillation episodes, compared to traditional ECG analysis applications, according to the company.
The company also produces its own ECG analysis tools, based on machine learning, and its whole technology platform is built on a growing database of more than 20 million ECG recordings ,and supported by a number of clinical publications. The platform automates most of the labor for faster results. This allows clinicians to focus their time on other important matters.
"Philips already had a broad patient care management portfolio for the hospital, including patient monitoring solutions for high- and low-acuity settings, and this acquisition will further strengthen our ambulatory offering. Ultimately, this will support our customers achieve the quadruple aim of healthcare, which is the simultaneous improvement of the patient and staff experience, enhancement of clinical outcomes, while lowering the cost of care," Roy Jakobs, chief business leader of connected care at Philips, told HCB News.
Among the benefits of using Cardilogs’ technology are faster diagnostic reporting, decreases in the occurrence of reporting errors and streamlined clinician workflow and patient care.
Philips will expand Cardiologs’ reach to patients worldwide and utilize its technology to deliver the quadruple aim of an improved patient care experience, better health outcomes, improved staff experience, and lower cost of care.
Earlier this year, the company
acquired BioTelemetry. A provider of remote cardiac diagnostics and monitoring, BioTeletry brought to Philips’ its collection of real-time monitoring, therapeutic devices, telehealth and informatics for the hospital setting, as well as ambulatory cardiac diagnostics and monitoring solutions. Its services for ambulatory cardiac diagnostics and monitoring include short-term Holter monitoring services, long-term Holter monitoring services, event recorder services and mobile cardiac outpatient telemetry (MCOT) services. Cardiologs’ technology is expected to complement these tools and capabilities.
Founded in 2014, Cardiologs consists of 70 employees, who will now join Philips. They will work in conjunction with Philips’ R&D lab in Paris to further its progress around the development of AI for medical care. Philips plans to assess Cardiologs’ branding strategy going forward.
"We look forward to the opportunity to expand the business as part of Philips, maintaining vendor-neutrality and continuing to work with third party vendors to drive further adoption of digital health solutions globally,” said Yann Fleureau, co-founder and CEO of Cardiologs, in a statement.
No financial details were disclosed.