FDA authorizes device that uses machine learning to diagnose autism
On June 2, 2021, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) authorized marketing of software that assists in diagnosing autism spectrum disorder (ASD) for patients from 18 months through five years of age. The Cognoa ASD Diagnosis Aid is software as a medical device that uses machine-learning to receive and process input from parents, video analysts and health care providers. It includes a mobile app for parents to answer questions about the child's behavior and upload videos of the child, a video analysis portal and a health care provider portal for a health care provider to enter answers about the child's behavior, track information provided by parents and review a report of the results. The system was assessed in a study of 425 patients in 14 clinical care sites, and compared the assessments made by the device against assessments made by a panel of clinical experts. The device made an accurate determination in 98.4% of patients with ASD, and 78.9% of patients without the condition. There were 15 false positives and one false negative. The Cognoa ASD Diagnosis Aid was reviewed through the De Novo premarket review pathway, and approval results in a new regulatory classification so that similar devices may go through the 501(k) premarket process.
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- Published: 21 June 2021 21 June 2021
CMS announces winner of AI challenge
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) announced the winner and runner-up in its Artificial Intelligence (AI) Health Outcomes Challenge. The Challenge was conducted by CMS in collaboration with the American Academy of Family Physicians, and aimed to demonstrate how AI tools such as deep learning and neural networks can accelerate solutions for predicting patient health outcomes. The winner was ClosedLoop.ai, located in Austin, Texas, and the runner-up was Geisinger in Danville, Pennsylvania.
Participants were tasked with developing innovative strategies to explain AI-derived predictions to front-line clinicians and patients, and to increase use of AI-enhanced data feedback for quality improvement. In Stage 1, participants were asked to use AI to predict unplanned hospital and skilled nursing facility (SNF) admissions and adverse events. In Stage 2, participants were to use AI to predict 12-month mortality for Medicare patients, as well as unplanned hospital and SNF admissions and adverse events.
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- Published: 18 May 2021 18 May 2021
FTC cautions that AI can reproduce biases
In a blog post on April 19, 2021, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) cautioned that efforts to harness the benefits of artificial intelligence (AI) should be coupled with safeguards to avoid introducing bias. As an example, the FTC cited a recent article in the Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association which warned that AI used to guide resource allocation for COVID-19 patients were fraught with bias. For example, using healthcare spending as a proxy for disease burden exacerbated inequalities arising from barriers to care for Black patients.
The FTC advises companies, including healthcare organizations, to examine data sets used for AI models to determine if the data is missing information from some populations. It also suggests testing the algorithm before use and periodically thereafter to watch out for discrimination on the basis of race, gender or other protected class.
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- Published: 26 April 2021 26 April 2021
FDA authorizes marketing of device using AI to highlight potential lesions during colonoscopy
On April 9, 2021, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) authorized marketing of the first device which uses artificial intelligence based on machine learning (AI/ML) to assist in detecting lesions during colonoscopy. The approval of the GI Genius device relied on results of a multicenter study in Italy that compared identification of lab-confirmed adenomas or carcinomas through colonoscopy using the device, versus standard colonoscopy. The GI Genius device identified suspicious lesions in 55.1% of patients compared to 42% with standard colonoscopy. The device uses AI algorithms to identify regions of interest as the patient is undergoing colonoscopy and generates markers that look like green squares superimposed on the video from the endoscope camera. The device is not intended to provide diagnostic assessments or replace lab sampling, but to alert the clinician so that suspect areas can be examined in real time.
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- Published: 13 April 2021 13 April 2021
FDA issues EUA for first machine learning COVID screening device
On March 19, 2021, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued an emergency use authorization (EUA) for the first machine learning COVID-19 screening device. The Tiger Tech COVID Plus Monitor is to be used by trained personnel for screening persons without COVID symptoms or fever. It is a screening tool only, not a diagnostic device. The device is an armband with embedded light sensors and a small computer processor. The sensors obtain pulsatile signals for three to five minutes. The processor extracts key features of the signals for analysis by a probabilistic machine learning model trained to make predictions on whether the individual is demonstrating certain biomarkers, such as hypercoagulation. The Tiger Tech monitor was evaluated in a hospital study and a school study, and identified COVID-19 positive individuals 98.6% of the time, and COVID-19 negative individuals 94.5% of the time.
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- Published: 23 March 2021 23 March 2021
FDA announces action plan for AI/ML software as a medical device
In April 2019, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) published a proposed regulatory framework for evaluating modifications for artificial intelligence/machine learning (AI/ML) software as a medical device (SaMD). AI/ML technologies in SaMD present unique issues, because the technology is intended to learn from real-world feedback and incorporate improvements into the SaMD algorithms. Since publishing the proposed framework, the FDA utilized workshops, publications and other means to obtain stakeholder feedback from device manufacturers and the public. The recently published action plan describes the agency’s intended actions incorporating this feedback.
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- Published: 12 January 2021 12 January 2021
HHS AI strategy signals new grantmaking focus on AI
The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has published its Artificial Intelligence (AI) Strategy, which will be supported by a new HHS AI Council. The AI Council will establish a Community of Practice of AI practitioners within HHS, to include data scientists, machine learning experts and other technologists, as well as health scientists who employ AI within their projects and organizations. An intriguing suggestion in the AI strategy is that HHS will encourage use of AI in grant-funded projects, including advancing biomedicine through AI-enabled insights and predictive analytics in public health surveillance.
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- Published: 02 February 2021 02 February 2021