A cloud-based analytics platform for the public healthcare sector in Singapore was recently unveiled.
In June, Synapxe, the country’s health technology agency, began onboarding hospitals and healthcare facilities to a platform called HEALIX (Health Empowerment thru Advanced Learning & Bright eXchange).
WHAT IS IT ABOUT
HEALIX is the first of its kind in Singapore. It aims to provide a “standardized, secure and scalable environment” for running analytics projects.
In a statement for Synapxe said the technology is a “common platform that consolidates the existing data infrastructure from individual public hospitals and healthcare facilities in Singapore.”
It also provides access to cloud-native tools for developing AI models, including pre-built algorithms and libraries, as well as custom development options. More tools and capabilities are expected to be added to the platform over time.
“This forward-thinking initiative demonstrates Synapxe’s commitment to enabling public healthcare users to leverage data and insights across the sector in a secure, transformative, collaborative and cost-effective manner, ultimately driving a positive health impact in Singapore,” said CEO Ngiam Siew Ying in an official statement.
HEALIX is hosted in both a public commercial cloud for the government sector and a private commercial cloud for the healthcare sector.
To ensure seamless interoperability and connectivity for HEALIX, Synapxe partnered with Amazon Web Services to create a consolidated data infrastructure that would streamline its operations.
In May, the agency signed a memorandum of understanding to join the AWS AI Spring program, which aims to accelerate AI adoption in Singapore. This gave Synapxe early access to the latest AWS tools and services, including generative AI, machine learning best practices, technical workshops, and cost-optimization advice.
Finally, when asked about the privacy and security aspect of the joint analytics platform, Synapxe said that a strong set of data security measures and encryption techniques aligned with Singapore government and industry frameworks have been implemented in HEALIX to ensure sheltered and responsible apply of data. The agency further explained that both data in transit and data at rest are anonymized and encrypted using industry-standard encryption protocols, with multi-level access controls to prevent data misuse or unethical application.
WHY IS THIS IMPORTANT
Synapxe highlighted that consolidating existing data infrastructure across the public healthcare sector into one common platform delivers significant cost and resource savings.
“This cost-effective method minimises the need for different entities to manage and maintain multiple analytics platforms within the Singapore Public Health Service, providing users with faster access to high-quality data and services,” it explained.
At the same time, having a single platform also enables collaboration across stakeholders and potentially accelerates the pace of innovation by providing faster access to anonymized data for analytics projects.
“With HEALIX, users will have access to up-to-date and consistent data that can accelerate AI/ML project initiatives and deliver better patient outcomes.”
BIGGER TREND
In recent years, public hospitals and healthcare facilities in Singapore have increasingly implemented AI technologies to enhance clinical and operational care.
To support this endeavor, the National Supercomputing Center in Singapore helped provide supercomputing facilities to two public health clusters, National University Health System and SingHealth. Their supercomputers currently underpin the development of AI models to predict patient risk and disease outcomes, as well as developing healthcare GPTs.
Over the years, different types of AI tools and systems have been developed and implemented in each public health clusterFor example, SingHealth also has AI for automated spine landmark detection, AI solutions for data analysis and clinical workflows supporting oncology care, and the 3D Disease Outbreak Surveillance System, which is currently being upgraded to 4D DOSS. SingHealth, together with Synapxe and NTT Data, is also developing AimSG, a vendor-neutral platform where institutions can access the market for proven and trusted AI imaging solutions.
Artificial Intelligence-based solutions are available at NUHS real-time detection of hypercalcemia and prediction of hospital bed availability. A modern digestive center at its flagship hospital, National University Hospital, will deploy artificial intelligence (AI) to create three systems to detect, diagnose and monitor digestive diseases.
Meanwhile, the National Healthcare Group testing an AI-based imaging solution to predict falls and a cardiac ultrasound analysis solution for heart failure.