$4.6m awarded to ten AI in health research projects

NEWS - eHealthNews.nz editor Rebecca McBeth 

A research project to assess the safe and appropriate use of AI scribes and a clinical pilot of an AI-powered tool to improve ear health in South Auckland are among ten AI in health research projects funded by the Health Research Council.

Funding of $4.6 million has been awarded for research focused on using artificial intelligence (AI) to transform healthcare.

Other funded projects include; an investigation of an AI-derived management support tool for Heart Failure; whether AI can help support faster and more accurate interpretation and reporting on chest X-rays; and the use of explainable artificial intelligence (XAI) to identify emerging, modifiable risk and protective factors for dementia.

Also, the use of AI to enhance postoperative monitoring and prevent avoidable deaths, improve eye screening in communities to reduce preventable vision loss, and support faster and more accurate radiology services.

An 18-month project to create an Aotearoa Roadmap for AI Scribes has attracted funding of nearly $400,000.

The description says that, “AI scribes are increasingly being used and while they may improve efficiency, there is limited and mixed evidence and they also pose important potential risks (e.g. to privacy).”

The researchers will review available evidence and find out what clinicians and managers from across the country think, as well as developers, about their safe and appropriate use.

A project to improve ear health for tamariki in South Auckland has also been funded for a one-year clinical pilot.

The project will evaluate the efficacy and suitability of DrumBeat.ai - an AI-supported diagnostic tool for assessing eardrum health - and will be run in a Tāmaki Health medical centre where demand for ear health services is high and waiting times to see an ENT specialist are significant.

DrumBeat.ai was originally developed to address severe ear disease in rural and remote Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities and shows promise in enabling early detection and diagnosis in primary care settings.

The pilot will involve health professionals using the tool to capture images of the eardrum, with AI-generated assessments supporting clinical decision-making. Data will be collected to measure accuracy, usability, and integration into primary care workflows.

The project is being managed by Collaborative Aotearoa. Chief executive Jess Morgan-French describes the pilot as “a powerful example of how digital tools, when used with clinical care and cultural intelligence, can enable equity in our system, especially for Māori and Pacific whānau who experience higher rates of untreated ear conditions.”

Hilary Baird, project lead from Tāmaki Health says, “this is an exciting opportunity to trial technology that could empower our clinical teams to assess and triage ear concerns more effectively within general practice”.

The Health Research Council (HRC) has announced investment of $71.4 million in total for innovative research to tackle a range of pressing issues affecting New Zealand’s health system.

The ten AI in health projects are:

Aotearoa Roadmap for AI Scribes
“AI scribes are increasingly being used and while they may improve efficiency, there is limited and mixed evidence and they also pose important potential risks (e.g. to privacy). We will review available evidence and find out what clinicians and managers from across the country think, as well as developers, about their safe and appropriate use."

Using AI to support the medical management of people with heart failure
“This project seeks to investigate how an AI-derived management support tool for Heart Failure will work in practice.”

Transforming radiology in New Zealand - From accuracy to implementation of AI
“This research will evaluate whether artificial intelligence (AI) can help support faster and more accurate interpretation and reporting on chest Xrays (CXR) in our hospitals.”

Leveraging explainable AI to identify novel risk factors in dementia
“This research project explores the use of explainable artificial intelligence (XAI) to identify emerging, modifiable risk and protective factors for dementia, with a particular focus on individuals living with diabetes.”

Toward a digital paradigm of postoperative monitoring
“This research aims to improve how patients are monitored after surgery by using digital tools and artificial intelligence (AI).”

Improving gastrointestinal cancer outcomes with AI-enhanced digital pathology
“We will use new artificial intelligence (AI) methods to study digital images of biopsy samples, combined with other patient information, to develop a tool that can more accurately show if a patient needs extra treatment or can avoid unnecessary surgery."

Optimising acute stroke care with artificial intelligence
“This project will measure the impact of deploying AI assisted rapid radiological brain scan interpretation on stroke intervention rates and preventable treatment delays across New Zealand Hospitals.”

Evaluating the performance and implementation of AI-enabled diabetic retinopathy
“We will test artificial intelligence (AI) technology that can quickly check eye images for signs of disease, comparing its accuracy and safety with current methods across Health NZ screening centres.”

Integrating AI-assisted diagnosis of ear disease: A primary care pilot
“This research aims to improve the diagnosis of ear disease in children by introducing artificial intelligence (AI) technology into primary healthcare.”

The ethics of AI-driven technologies in youth mental healthcare
“This research aims to establish practical guidelines for the safe and equitable use of artificial intelligence (AI) in youth mental healthcare in Aotearoa New Zealand.”

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