Hospitals in Limburg are accelerating the roll-out of AI through a joint readiness assessment

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The Limburg Health AI & Data Alliance and Pacmed are identifying what is needed to scale up AI in healthcare in a sustainable way.

Hospitals in Limburg are working together to build a healthcare sector in which AI and data help to address staff shortages in a sustainable way. To give AI a structural role in this, the Health AI & Data Alliance Limburg and Pacmed have launched a joint AI Readiness Scan across several hospitals in Limburg.

The assessment not only identifies, for each hospital, what is needed to successfully implement and scale up AI, but, above all, what we can learn from one another and how we can capitalise on each other’s strengths. The result: an approach whereby AI makes a structural contribution to accessible healthcare and which can also be applied nationwide.

AI starts with people

The Limburg Health AI & Data Alliance is working towards a healthcare sector in which AI and data support healthcare professionals in their day-to-day work. By managing administration, healthcare logistics and diagnostics more efficiently, more time can be devoted to patients. The alliance is a collaboration between Maastricht UMC+, Laurentius Hospital, Maastro, SJG Weert, VieCuri Medical Centre and Zuyderland Medical Centre, facilitated by the Brightlands Smart Services Campus, and focuses on the practical implementation and embedding of AI in healthcare.

"The successful use of AI starts with people," says Jordy Rijksen, Health AI manager at the alliance. "Only when healthcare professionals and patients understand what AI does, are able to work with it and trust it will it really make a difference. With this AI Readiness Scan, we are assessing where hospitals stand and how they can deploy AI in a targeted manner."

What the scan reveals

The AI Readiness Scan analyses the key capabilities required for scaling up AI: strategy and governance, IT and data infrastructure, compliance and privacy, capacity for change, and support amongst healthcare professionals and managers. The participating hospitals will complete the scans this summer.

“Much of the energy and resources that hospitals invest in AI are not yet translating into real-world value,” says Wouter Kroese, CEO of Pacmed. “We help hospitals take accessible, scalable and proven steps to get their AI foundations in order and to choose applications that are actually implemented, used and lead to a real impact.”

Pacmed is a Dutch AI partner for hospitals with over ten years’ experience in the healthcare sector. Its AI applications range from capacity planning to medical decision support and are in use at several Dutch hospitals. The partnership builds on this practical experience, enabling hospitals in Limburg to learn from one another and actively shape future developments.

The power of collaboration

The collaborative approach within the alliance yields better results than separate, individual assessments. Hospitals share knowledge, identify common challenges and work towards a clear division of roles. This prevents fragmentation and speeds up the steps that have the greatest impact.

From Limburg to the rest of the Netherlands

Limburg aims to work towards an AI-supported healthcare sector. The alliance is therefore the first province-wide AI collaboration in the Dutch healthcare sector. By pooling knowledge, data and insights, an approach is created that extends beyond the region: a model that can also be applied elsewhere in the Netherlands and prevents uncontrolled growth and fragmentation. In this way, Limburg is contributing to affordable, future-proof healthcare for everyone.

About the Limburg Health AI & Data Alliance

The Limburg Health AI & Data Alliance brings together hospitals and healthcare organisations in Limburg to use AI and data responsibly to improve healthcare. The alliance focuses on three key areas: ensuring healthcare staff are AI-ready, making secondary healthcare data available, and developing and implementing practical AI applications. The aim is to create a healthcare sector that collaborates more efficiently, has a reduced administrative burden and achieves better outcomes for patients and healthcare professionals.

About the Brightlands Smart Services Campus

The Brightlands Smart Services Campus in Heerlen is Limburg’s hub for data, AI and smart services. Here, companies, start-ups, knowledge institutions and healthcare partners work side by side on people-centred technology that makes a difference: in public services, the financial sector, the circular economy and healthcare.

The campus is home to the Health AI & Data Alliance, the regional AI hub for the healthcare sector, and to anyone who wants to build something greater than themselves.

About Pacmed

Pacmed is a Dutch AI company with over ten years’ experience in the application and scaling up of AI in the healthcare sector. Pacmed helps hospitals to deploy AI responsibly and at scale, with proven results in several Dutch hospitals.