Industry News
AI Diagnostic Tool To Improve Optometry Accuracy Receives Grant
A project developing Artificial Intelligence (AI) capabilities to improve optometry accuracy for patient diagnoses and referrals has been awarded over $2.98 million. The project is led by global technology company Big Picture Medical, in collaboration with UNSW Science Scientia Professor Fiona Stapleton and Professor Michael Kalloniatis, Director of the Centre for Eye Health (CFEH) which is a joint initiative of Guide Dogs NSW/ACT and UNSW. The system will combine an optometrist’s expertise with AI capabilities that analyse patient eye health data to achieve high-level accuracy for diagnosis and referrals.
Misdiagnosis is common in optometry and leads to poor patient outcomes and unproductivity for limited specialist services resulting in $74 million p.a in avoidable costs for the Australian health system. AI has been identified as a solution to improve diagnosis and referral decisions but optometrists lack tools that use AI to support thorough and accurate analysis of all patient data. This Cooperative Research Centres Project (CRC-P) will incorporate unique IP from UNSW, the Centre for Eye Health and the Australian Institute for Machine Learning into Big Picture Medical's primary point-of-care optometry platform to provide optometrists with AI capabilities that analyse multiple patient eye scans and medical history data with specialist-level accuracy.
The parties involved in this project are Big Picture Medical Pty Ltd, The University of Adelaide, Menicon Australia Pty Ltd, University of NSW, and Brien Holden Vision Institute. The total project value is about $12 million and it is foreseen that the project will finish at the end of 2022.