Author: Julie Sufana

contextflow Set to Secure Europe’s First Radiology AI Reimbursement Contract

News Awards Press

2024-11-27

This pioneering agreement seeks to improve lung cancer detection for patients and set a precedent for AI adoption in medical imaging across Europe.

Vienna, Austria, 25 November 2024: contextflow, a leader in building comprehensive computer-aided detection support for lung cancer, ILD, and COPD, is breaking ground with IKK Südwest, a forward-thinking health insurance company in Germany. This agreement, facilitated through the Healthy Hub initiative, marks a pivotal moment in the integration of AI technology within healthcare systems, with the goal to improve patient outcomes by enabling efficient and early detection of lung cancer.

A Step Forward for AI in Lung Cancer Diagnostics

contextflow develops AI-based software to assist radiologists in evaluating the three main causes of premature death – lung cancer, lung diseases, and heart disease. Specific to this new partnership, malignancy scoring from partner RevealDx (integrated into contextflow ADVANCE Chest CT) plays a starring role. This feature enables radiologists to detect lung cancer up to one year sooner with significantly higher accuracy. By providing more accurate early detection of lung cancer, contextflow could help reduce healthcare costs by avoiding unnecessary procedures, such as biopsies and follow-up scans. This benefits radiologists by providing faster, more accurate reports that could potentially improve patient outcomes, while insurers like IKK Südwest can save resources by avoiding unnecessary medical procedures.

IKK Südwest and contextflow Encourage AI Adoption in Radiology

This milestone is part of a broader effort spearheaded by the Healthy Hub, a joint venture involving four health insurance companies in Germany, which fosters the adoption of state-of-the-art medical devices. IKK Südwest, along with imaging provider Xcare and integrated care provider MEDIQX health management GmbH, is leading the charge by integrating AI-powered reporting solutions for radiologists into Germany’s healthcare system. Together, these partnerships are transforming radiologists’ reporting capabilities and advancing the integration of AI in healthcare, ultimately enhancing patient care and operational efficiency. Under the new agreement, IKK Südwest will pay a per-exam fee for each chest CT scan, shared between contextflow and the imaging provider.

“With the support of Healthy Hub and IKK Südwest, we’re forging new paths by creating a radiology-specific reimbursement model that prioritizes quality care through advanced AI diagnostics. Our goal is to improve patient outcomes by making comprehensive and reliable lung cancer and disease detection accessible to radiologists. In turn, this enables more precise and proactive detection, which helps enhance operational efficiency and reduce unnecessary costs across the healthcare system” said Markus Holzer, CEO at contextflow.

contextflow’s AI-driven technology enables radiologists to track lung nodules over time, assess malignancy, and generate high quality reports with increased confidence and consistency. This technology offers objective image analysis that reduces false positives and negatives, addressing common challenges associated with traditional tools.

A Year of Growth and Recognition

The reimbursement agreement comes at a critical time for contextflow, which has experienced steady strategic growth over the past year. The company has secured partnerships with major players like Blackford Analysis and NeoLogica, and its product offerings have expanded to include innovative features like malignancy scoring and incidental pulmonary embolism detection. contextflow has also received recognition for its contributions to healthtech, including being named one of Newsweek’s World’s Best Digital Health Companies for 2024 and ranking #18 on Trend.at’s top 100 Austrian startups list.

“By entering into this reimbursement agreement, contextflow is not just addressing a local challenge but is also laying an important foundation for AI-supported diagnostics to be widely adopted across Germany,” says Florian Brandt, Health Innovation Manager at IKK Südwest. “AI is set to become a vital tool for enhancing healthcare outcomes rather than a “nice-to-have,” signaling a needed change in the healthcare industry,” adds Daniel Schilling, board member of IKK Südwest.

Looking ahead, contextflow plans to expand its reach through strategic partnerships and continued product innovation, cementing its place at the forefront of the AI radiology revolution. As reimbursement codes become more common, the application of AI in radiology will only accelerate with the potential to transform reporting accuracy and healthcare efficiency worldwide.

Other News

News

contextflow Set to Secure Europe’s First Radiology AI Reimbursement Contract

News

AI in practice: AIFI pilot started in five Dutch hospitals

News Press

2025-02-22

February 17, 2025 – Tiel – The AI For Imaging (AIFI) pilot project is officially launched. The AIFI project focuses on making artificial intelligence (AI) software for medical diagnostics accessible with the aim of reducing the workload for healthcare professionals and specialists via a shared national infrastructure.

The pilot involves a collaboration between five Dutch hospitals, the Dutch Association for Radiology (NVvR), and VZVZ, and is made financially possible by Healthcare Insurers Netherlands. “The goal is to make AI software available to Dutch hospitals in a safe, efficient, and scalable way,” said Dirk van der Lugt, AIFI project leader. The five participating hospitals are live as of February 17.

“We are at the beginning of a learning process,” Van der Lugt explains. “The goal is to investigate whether AI algorithms can be made available in a safe and standardized way. The fact that five hospitals are now live is a huge achievement that we have all worked very hard on.”

Oswald Kessels, Radiologist at Ziekenhuisgroep Twente (ZGT), shares his euphoria: “We have been working towards this for a long time. There is certainly a moment of pride and eureka,” says Kessels. “Because every hospital would like to apply AI, but not every hospital knows how. The unique thing about the AIFI project is that hospitals can look to it for help.”

An important milestone in healthcare

There was a lot of enthusiasm from hospitals to participate in the AIFI project. The pilot phase started with five hospitals: Radboudumc, Ziekenhuis Rivierenland, Gelre ziekenhuizen, Ziekenhuisgroep Twente, and Catharina Ziekenhuis. “We have consciously chosen different types of hospitals, from academic centers to regional hospitals. And, of course, each has different IT systems. This showcases the strength of the AIFI project, that we can do this together, and that hospitals do not have to individually reinvent the wheel,” says Van der Lugt.

Matthijs Huttinga, Unit Manager Imaging Technologies at Ziekenhuis Rivierenland, also likes this approach. “Previously, pilots and research with AI were mainly conducted in academic centers. But even small and medium-sized hospitals have large patient numbers. AIFI recognizes the need to provide AI support to different-sized hospitals, and something very nice about this project is that different-sized hospitals are included equally.”

The pilot focuses on three AI-enabled applications: Fracture detection, identification of incidental pulmonary embolisms, and assessment of skeletal age. “As a doctor, you have to make a lot of difficult decisions during the work day. If you are supported by AI, you can do this more efficiently and with more certainty. This also results in greater job satisfaction,” says Hanh-Phuc Tran, a radiologist at Ziekenhuis Rivierenland in Tiel, one of the five participating pilot hospitals.

AIFI’s strength lies in unlocking AI through a national infrastructure

Through a meticulous selection process, the AI products CINA-iPE (contextflow), BoneXpert (Visiana), and RBfracture (Radiobotics) were selected for the pilot phase. The AI algorithms are made available to participating hospitals via an existing national infrastructure of the Twiin Portal in collaboration with supplier Alphatron Zorgbinders.

All patient data is processed pseudonymised, so that the analyses can be carried out safely and untraceably. “Patient data is encrypted,” explains Hanh-Phuc Tran. “That is something people were afraid of, that data would soon be traceable. But the real patient data remains within the hospital.”

The first results of the pilot show that AIFI’s strength lies in unlocking AI through a national infrastructure. “If we had had to do this on our own, it would have been a long-term process. You don’t want to know how much work went into it! Now we have figured it out all together,” Huttinga explains. An approach like AIFI means that hospitals no longer have to independently sort out the legal, technical, and organizational aspects, which makes the AI adoption more accessible for hospitals.

Future

Although it is still early to draw firm conclusions, the pilot offers important insights. For example, it is currently being investigated whether the implementation of this pilot paves the way for a further rollout of AI to hospitals in the Netherlands. “We are now learning what works and what can be improved,” says Van der Lugt. “The experiences from the project will hopefully lead to broader adoption of AI in healthcare.”

Other News

News

contextflow Set to Secure Europe’s First Radiology AI Reimbursement Contract

News

AI in practice: AIFI pilot started in five Dutch hospitals

Faster, more accurate diagnoses at Lillebælt Hospital

News Press

2025-02-22

Radiologists are under ever-increasing pressure: rising patient numbers, more complex diagnoses and a growing shortage of specialist staff. At Lillebælt Hospital, a regional hospital in the south of Denmark, the radiology department is overcoming these challenges with the support of AI.

Lillebælt Hospital was formed in 2008 through the merger of the hospitals in Kolding, Vejle, Middelfart, Fredericia and Give. Today it still operates three sites in Kolding, Vejle and Middelfart. With a total of 17 departments and nine institutes, the facility treats around 60,000 inpatients and 520,000 outpatients every year. The radiology department is particularly busy in pulmonary imaging. “Many of our patients have pulmonary nodules, which we monitor over the course of the disease to find out whether it is lung cancer,” explains Head Physician Dr. Jakob Møller. Follow-up care after oncological procedures also involves a high number of check-ups. “If a new nodule is detected in an operated patient, we have to find out quickly whether it is malignant.”

The department uses high-resolution CT technology to diagnose interstitial lung diseases and emphysema in the best possible way. The challenge is particularly great in pneumology: many patients are referred there in order to measure nodules and decide whether further testing for lung cancer is necessary. This requires a high degree of precision and comparability of images over long periods of time.

AI as support for radiologists

“The biggest challenge in the future will be the increasing number of examinations. We won’t suddenly have more radiologists, but we will have more patients with cancer and therefore more check-ups and follow-up examinations,” says Dr. Møller. “So we need to treat more patients with the same resources – and this is exactly where AI helps us.”

The technology supports radiologists in particular with repetitive tasks such as measuring nodules. “AI does the tedious work that radiologists don’t like to do and gives us time for more important tasks – for example, developing new protocols or taking part in multidisciplinary conferences with clinicians.” Dr. Møller sees great potential for young doctors in particular: “They can learn from AI by using comparative data and developing a feel for pathological patterns more quickly.”

In Vejle, where a particularly large number of patients with cancer or suspicious nodules are examined, the benefits are already clear to see. The number of follow-up examinations for lung nodules are increasing, and a faster, more accurate assessment is essential in order to initiate the right treatment in good time. “I think that AI can help us to deliver high quality, even if the work pressure continues to increase,” emphasizes Dr Møller.

Intuitive operation and seamless integration are crucial

For AI to be used in daily routine, it must be understandable and easy to use. “We want our radiologists to be able to see immediately whether there are any conspicuous areas in the image that require closer examination,” emphasizes Dr Møller. The team particularly appreciates the visual processing provided by contextflow: “One of the really nice functions is the graphical representation of nodule development over time. A growing structure is displayed in a changing curve in red – so we know immediately what we need to pay attention to.”

However, the integration into the existing workflow could still be improved. “We currently receive a secondary capture in the PACS, but a deeper integration into our Philips Vue PACS would be desirable. We are already in talks about this,” reports Dr. Møller. The aim is to integrate the AI results into the existing system as seamlessly as possible. Deeper integration could further increase efficiency by eliminating unnecessary work steps and allowing radiologists to focus more on analyzing the relevant image data.

The hospital has been testing ADVANCE Chest CT for six months. Dr. Møller is particularly impressed by the volumetric analysis of lung nodules. “In its guidelines, the British Thoracic Society recommends volumetry for the follow-up care of nodules – we are not yet implementing this across the board because it is too time-consuming for radiologists to measure nodules in three planes.” But this is exactly where AI comes in: “With contextflow, it’s much faster, and we will no longer miss any slow-growing nodules.”

contextflow as an important and reliable partner

An important aspect for the radiologists is the close cooperation with the manufacturer. “We have worked with several AI companies – including for fracture detection, vascular measurements and MRI prostate analyses,” explains Dr. Møller. “At contextflow, we experience a particularly good exchange. I have made several suggestions for improvements, and it is impressive to see how quickly these are incorporated into new versions. We feel very well looked after.”

Dr. Møller is convinced that AI will not replace radiologists – but radiologists who work with AI will replace those who do not. “The technology helps us to work more efficiently and precisely and ultimately provide better care for our patients,” says the head radiologist.

The pulmonologists at Lillebælt Hospital in particular welcome the use of AI. “They are very interested in us using the BTS score to assess nodules. The combination of proven guidelines and modern AI support could further improve the quality of diagnostics.”

Other News

News

contextflow Set to Secure Europe’s First Radiology AI Reimbursement Contract

News

AI in practice: AIFI pilot started in five Dutch hospitals

Malignancy Scoring in Limburg-Weilburg: A decisive step into the future

News Press

2025-02-20

With ADVANCE Chest CT, Radiologie Limburg-Weilburg optimizes its diagnostics and ensures greater precision and efficiency

Radiologie Limburg-Weilburg is a group practice with three locations in Limburg, Weilburg and Weilmünster. With a young, innovative team of ten radiologists, around 50,000 X-rays and 10,000 CT examinations are performed each year. The practice relies not only on modern equipment technologies, but also on software-supported optimization – in particular through artificial intelligence (AI). Since August 2024, the radiologists have been using ADVANCE Chest CT from contextflow, an AI-supported software for analyzing chest CTs.

Dr. Boris Schulz, specialist in radiology and Managing Director of Radiologie Limburg-Weilburg, describes the challenges his team faces: “The number of examinations and their complexity have increased massively in recent years. We have to do more and more in less and less time – while maintaining a high level of quality.”

This is particularly essential in chest CT diagnostics. The images make it possible to detect the smallest changes at an early stage – whether in high-risk patients with suspected lung cancer or in patients who have already been diagnosed with the disease. “Precision is particularly important when monitoring progress. Changes can be observed over longer periods of time, and often it is not just individual lesions that need to be analyzed, but several,” explains Dr. Schulz. This is exactly where AI comes in.

AI as a second look – more safety and less effort

The Limburg-Weilburg radiology department uses ADVANCE Chest CT as a second reader. “We look at the CT study, form our opinion and compare it with the AI result – practically like a double diagnosis, which increases safety,” says the radiologist.

He sees the quantitative analysis as a particular advantage of the software: volume measurements of nodules or changes in the lungs can be recorded precisely and longitudinally – i.e. over time. “AI relieves us of the tedious work of manual measurement. Our task is to classify structures correctly and recommend therapeutic management. The AI measurements are of very high quality because they represent a real volume – this is more precise than the usual measurement in two or three axes,” emphasizes Dr. Schulz.

Another crucial point in practice is the low rate of false positives. “A common problem with AI solutions is that they generate too many unnecessary suspicions. This costs time and is frustrating. Initially, we also had this concern with ADVANCE Chest CT. But the rate of false positives is so low that it doesn’t bother us on a day-to-day basis,” praises the radiologist.

Seamless integration and high acceptance

The implementation of the AI software went smoothly. “The exchange between our IT and contextflow was straightforward. We defined our workflows, and contextflow integrated the solution directly into the PACS. The training required was minimal, and the interface and diagnostic reports are self-explanatory,” says Dr. Schulz.

Acceptance among colleagues and medical staff is also high. “Many are enthusiastic because it simply takes work off our hands. Even patients are now asking whether we use AI. When we then tell them that it is an integral part of our diagnostics, they are often pleasantly surprised.”

An example from practice shows the potential of AI: a patient came for a lung CT scan because she had been diagnosed with lymph node disease. Dr. Schulz noticed a six-millimeter nodule. According to the guidelines, this should be checked again after six months. Four weeks later, however, the patient received a PET-CT scan, which showed a worrying change. The decision was made to remove the lump – the result: an adenocarcinoma, an early form of lung cancer.

Three months later, the practice introduced ADVANCE Chest CT, and Dr. Schulz had the old data set analyzed. The software recognized the nodule correctly, measured it precisely and assigned it a high degree of malignancy based on a comparison with a comparative database from contextflow. “If I had already had the AI solution back then, I would probably have advised the patient to undergo invasive clarification immediately. The lump had already formed a small metastasis. Cases like this show how valuable this technology can be,” concludes Dr. Schulz.

Reliability in everyday work

The collaboration with contextflow runs smoothly. “The software runs silently in the background, updates come regularly, and we haven’t had any failures or errors so far,” says the radiologist. The AI also copes well with complex and heterogeneous data sets – for example, when examinations from CTs from different manufacturers or with different radiation doses are available.

Another aspect is the automation of the workflow. The CT images are automatically transmitted to contextflow, analyzed and fed directly back into the PACS so that the radiologists can start reporting immediately. “There is no automatic text transfer in our written reports because we use digital speech recognition. However, the quantitative data from the AI analysis is a valuable addition that we can simply transfer to the dictation,” says Dr. Schulz.

Clear added value for radiologists and patients

The integration of AI into radiological diagnostics makes everyday work considerably easier. ADVANCE Chest CT supports radiologists efficiently, ensures a consistently high quality of findings and can help to make an earlier diagnosis in crucial cases. AI-supported analysis offers considerable relief and additional certainty, particularly in the case of complex chest CT findings. “I am convinced that AI will become an integral part of modern radiology – not as a replacement for the doctor, but as a valuable addition,” summarizes Dr. Schulz. The positive feedback from the team and patients confirms that the decision to use ADVANCE Chest CT was an important step towards future-proof radiology.

Other News

News

contextflow Set to Secure Europe’s First Radiology AI Reimbursement Contract

News

AI in practice: AIFI pilot started in five Dutch hospitals

RADSPEAK by contextflow: Can AI help reduce the satisfaction of search bias?

News

2024-11-07

Other News

News

contextflow Set to Secure Europe’s First Radiology AI Reimbursement Contract

News

AI in practice: AIFI pilot started in five Dutch hospitals

contextflow winner of the Healthy Hub competition from four health insurance companies: Innovative solutions for women’s health and early detection

News Awards Press

2024-03-13

DORTMUND, 13.03.2024. The winners of the 2024 Healthy Hub Competition want to improve women’s health with innovative care. The various offers relate to different phases of life and clinical pictures – from hybrid tests against HPV viruses, to care for typical female diseases such as endometriosis, to innovative therapy for menopausal symptoms. People with lung diseases should receive better care in terms of early detection. The winning teams will each tackle these topics with one of the four health insurance companies – BIG direkt gesund, IKK Südwest, mhplus Krankenkasse and SBK Siemens-Betriebskrankenkasse. This is the fifth time that the health insurance companies have jointly organized the competition.

“This time, the focus was on selected contractual care solutions, which take into account the gender health gap, i.e. the inequality of care between women and men,” explains Dr. Elmar Waldschmitt, Managing Director of the Healthy Hub and Board Representative at BIG. Unfortunately, medical research and care is still too heavily focused on men.

The winners were selected from over 40 applications:

Remi Health, health insurance partner BIG direkt gesund

Remi Health has developed a cervical cancer screening program that allows insured women to test themselves for human papillomavirus (HPV) at home. If the results are positive, an online consultation and an appointment with a gynecologist are provided. Remi’s digital platform also provides information about the importance of screening and early detection. “The low-threshold HPV test combines home testing, telemedicine and prevention in one seamless process,” explains Marvin Abert, Co-CEO of Remi Health. “In particular, we want to reach young women who have not yet taken advantage of cancer screening and have no immunity through an HPV vaccination. In our opinion, the HPV self-test from Remi Health is an innovative approach to complementing cancer screening in a meaningful way,” says Christiane Heidrich, Team Leader Managed Care at BIG direkt gesund.

Femna Health, health insurance partner SBK Siemens-Betriebskrankenkasse

Around a third of women of fertile age, i.e. in their fertile years, suffer from severely restrictive physical, psychological and social stress due to cycle complaints. These include conditions such as PMS, endometriosis and dysmenorrhea. “Current care does not adequately address these problems due to a lack of treatment options, long waiting times and a lack of individualized care. FEMNA has therefore developed a hybrid care model that provides women with improved, comprehensive and immediate care,” explains Maxie Matthiessen, founder of Femna Health. “Femna Care improves behavioral patterns and helps to prevent secondary diseases and increase the quality of life of affected women,” says Christina Bernards, Team Leader Care Management, SBK Siemens-Betriebskrankenkasse. “This is an issue close to our hearts, because women’s health in particular is massively neglected and underfunded in medicine and research. It’s time we changed that.”

YoniCare, health insurance partner mhplus Krankenkasse

With YoniCare (MICADO HEALTH CARE GmbH), the Healthy Hub has a non-digital care product in its portfolio for the first time. YoniCare enables laser therapy for the treatment of genitourinary syndrome. “The drop in estrogen levels during the menopause leads to vaginal dryness, changes in vaginal tissue and the vaginal mucosa and, as a result, symptoms such as itching, incontinence, infections and other complaints,” says Mandy Wilms from MICADO HEALTH CARE GmbH. The therapy can revitalize the vaginal epithelium that lines the vagina and the vaginal vestibule. The symptoms decrease and gynecological health is restored. “The therapy can make hormone replacement therapy superfluous and reduce interactions with medication,” says Fabienne Knaub, consultant for selective contracts and care analysis at mhplus Krankenkasse.

contextflow, health insurance partner IKK Südwest

Early detection is essential for successful treatment of thoracic diseases. “We offer AI software that provides additional information for identifying and interpreting lung-specific image patterns in CT scans,” says Markus Holzer, CEO and co-founder of contextflow. The ultimate goal of the software is to detect lung cancer as early as possible in order to save healthcare system resources and protect patients from unnecessary interventions. “The image analysis AI enables radiologists to assess relevant image patterns of lung cancer and respiratory diseases faster and better,” says Dr. Florian Brandt, Health Innovation Manager at IKK Südwest.

Developing use cases for healthcare practice

Over the next few months, the four health insurance companies will work with the winning teams to develop specific use cases that are suitable for use in statutory health insurance (SHI). “Our aim is to ensure that these innovative care methods are used in practice,” says Dr. Elmar Waldschmitt. In addition, the Healthyhub’s cooperation partner, GWQ ServicePlus AG, will be involved in the development from the outset.

About the Healthy Hub

Since 2018, the four health insurance companies BIG direkt gesund, IKK Südwest, mhplus Krankenkasse and SBK Siemens-Betriebskrankenkasse have been committed to the digitalization of the healthcare system with the Healthy Hub. The aim is to enable innovative solutions for better, integrated care. To this end, the health insurance funds regularly organize competitions for start-ups. They have already brought 27 start-ups into the healthcare sector.

About BIG direkt gesund

BundesInnungskrankenkasse Gesundheit – BIG direkt gesund for short – was founded in Dortmund in 1996. The big idea behind BIG: We create space for being human. This means a modern online approach and empathetic service that is fast and solution-oriented. BIG offers versatile communication channels to suit the respective lifestyles of its around 510,000 policyholders across Germany. These customers receive appreciative and understandable advice by phone, chat, email or letter. Many additional benefits and an attractive bonus program are further major plus points. BIG direkt gesund has its legal domicile in Berlin, its head office in Dortmund and an important administrative location in Aachen. BIG employs around 950 staff at its operating locations and offers on-site advice in 11 BIGshops.

For inquiries

Bettina Kiwitt

Head of Corporate Communications

Phone: 0231/5557-1016

E-mail: bettina.kiwitt@big-direkt.de

About IKK Südwest:

IKK Südwest currently serves more than 635,000 insured persons and over 90,000 companies in Hesse, Rhineland-Palatinate and Saarland. Insured and interested parties can rely on personal support in our 21 customer centers in the region. In addition, IKK Südwest can be contacted around the clock seven days a week via the IKK service hotline 0681/ 3876 1000 or at www.ikk-suedwest.de.

For inquiries

Mathias Gessner

Press spokesman

Phone: 0681/3876-1163

E-mail: presse@ikk-sw.de

About the mhplus health insurance company:

mhplus Krankenkasse is open to those with statutory health insurance. Around 1,000 employees look after more than half a million policyholders throughout Germany. Independent tests confirm high service standards and solid finances. The mhplus supplementary contribution has remained stable at 1.58% since 2023.

For inquiries

Isabell Rabe

Head of Press and Politics

Phone: 07141/9790-9845

E-mail: presse@mhplus.de

About the SBK:

SBK Siemens-Betriebskrankenkasse is the largest company health insurance fund in Germany and is one of the 20 largest statutory health insurance funds. As an open, nationwide health insurance company, it insures more than one million people and looks after over 100,000 corporate customers in Germany – with around 2000 employees in 86 branches. For more than 100 years, SBK has been personally committed to the interests of its policyholders. It positions itself as a pioneer for genuine quality competition in statutory health insurance. From the SBK’s point of view, the prerequisite for this is more transparency for the insured – about relevant key financial figures, but also about the willingness to perform, advice and service quality of health insurance companies. In the interests of the customer, SBK also combines the best of the personal and digital worlds and is actively driving forward digitalization in the healthcare sector.

For inquiries

Julia Mederle

Corporate Communications Department

Phone: +49 89 62700-363

E-mail: julia.mederle@sbk.org Internet: www.sbk.org

Other News

News

contextflow Set to Secure Europe’s First Radiology AI Reimbursement Contract

News

AI in practice: AIFI pilot started in five Dutch hospitals

contextflow & Neologica partner to bring comprehensive chest CT support to radiologists

News Press

2024-06-06

Vienna, Austria (June 5, 2024) – Neologica, the long-running developer of advanced medical imaging software solutions, and contextflow announce a commercial partnership to bring contextflow’s ADVANCE Chest CT solution to Neologica’s radiology base.

Under the partnership, contextflow’s innovative computer-aided detection support for chest CT will be integrated into Neologica’s LogiPACS. Founded in 2002, Neologica develops a range of products, including a PACS server, DICOM viewer and online patient portal. All of the company’s products are developed in-house for maximum interoperability. By partnering with contextflow, Neologica can offer its users a powerful tool to detect lung cancer, ILD patterns and COPD on chest CT.

contextflow’s core technology is ADVANCE Chest CT, an AI-based medical device software that detects, visualizes and quantifies nodules and lung disease patterns to improve the speed and quality of radiology reporting with consistent, objective information. Its upcoming malignancy scoring feature has been shown to not only detect lung cancer sooner but also to reduce both false positives and false negatives (*Adams, Scott J et al., JACR September 2022).

As Marco Sambin, CEO at Neologica explains, “It’s undeniable that the PACS market is expressing a strong demand for diagnostic decision support solutions through AI. Neologica’s partnership with contextflow is a response to this request within the realm of chest CT imaging. ADVANCE Chest CT is an extremely advanced (CE MDR certified) product for the detection of lung nodules and other lung pathologies. Users of our LogiPACS and RemotEye Viewer will have access to an AI-enhanced workflow with seamless integration into our software modules.”

In addition to increased access to clinical decision support for chest CT, the partnership aims to reduce false positives and patient stress in relation to lung cancer detection via malignancy scoring. Malignancy scoring is a newly released feature that enables a radiologist to compare suspicious nodules to thousands of others with known outcomes in order to indicate the probability that a given nodule is malignant or benign. As contextflow Chief Commercial Officer Marcel Wassink puts it, “Malignancy scoring has been validated in a clinical study to reduce false positive nodule detection by 18% while detecting lung cancer up to one year earlier. We hope this level of certainty helps avoid patient anxiety and reduce unnecessary costs and work for radiologists.”

About contextflow

contextflow is a spin-off of the Medical University of Vienna (MUW) and European research project KHRESMOI, supported by the Technical University of Vienna (TU). Founded by a team of AI and engineering experts in July 2016, the company has a strong interest in bringing state-of-the-art machine learning techniques to the market e.g. improved emphysema detection and lung segmentation. Its computer-aided detection software ADVANCE Chest CT is CE Marked and available for clinical use within Europe under the new MDR.

About Neologica

Neologica is an ISO 9001 and ISO 13485-certified company designing and developing advanced software solutions in the medical imaging field.

With more than 20 years of history and experience, and developing the initial goal of specializing in the DICOM field, today Neologica has a complete range of DICOM-compliant software products in the medical imaging field. This range is composed of software modules that the company has designed and developed in-house from the ground up, covering everything from visualization to archiving, from printing to data exchange. Today, Neologica continues to innovate with original ideas and a strong focus on the quality of its products.

With 5000+ installations across 40+ countries and 5 continents, along with a record of highly satisfied customers, Neologica is now a recognized actor in the medical imaging domain.

The professionalism and skills of its human resources are fundamental values for Neologica; exceeding customers’ expectations with its products is the company’s main objective.

For more information, contact:

Julie Sufana, Chief Marketing Officer, contextflow, email: julie@contextflow.com

Phone: +43 6769201032

Marco Sambin, Chief Executive Officer, Neologica, email: marco.sambin@neologica.it

Phone: +39 019 505314

Other News

News

contextflow Set to Secure Europe’s First Radiology AI Reimbursement Contract

News

AI in practice: AIFI pilot started in five Dutch hospitals

contextflow targets early lung cancer detection by augmenting ADVANCE Chest CT with malignancy scoring from RevealDx

News Press

2024-05-02

Vienna, Austria (02.05.2024) – Chest CT experts contextflow GmbH have released a new version of their comprehensive computer-aided detection support tool, ADVANCE Chest CT. In addition to lung nodule detection, quantification, visualization and classification, the updated software now analyzes nodules for malignancy with the aim of detecting cancer early and reducing unnecessary procedures.

It’s widely known that lung cancer constitutes one of the leading causes of premature death, and thus early detection of cancer is crucial. For that very reason, contextflow has implemented a malignancy Similarity Index (mSI) feature into ADVANCE Chest CT, a clinical decision support tool that aids radiologists in the diagnosis of lung cancer, interstitial lung diseases (ILD) and chronic-obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).

A malignancy Similarity Index is a value from 0 to 1 that indicates the degree of similarity between a nodule in question and nodules with known outcomes in a reference set. In clinical practice, a high mSI would indicate “upgrading” followup of a nodule as compared to guideline recommendations because there is increased certainty that the nodule in question is malignant. Here, the goal is to detect cancer as early as possible in order to improve patient outcomes.

As contextflow CEO Markus Holzer puts it, “Detecting lung cancer is a challenging and time-consuming task for radiologists. Detection is not straightforward. All too often patients are scheduled for followups months after their initial exam without knowing whether they actually have cancer or not. This is extremely stressful, but thankfully we can start to change that.”

On the flip side, a low mSI score would indicate “downgrading” the nodule with the aim of reducing invasive, unnecessary procedures and patient stress. In a clinical study published in the Journal of the American College of Radiology, use of the RevealDx mSI feature was shown to detect cancer up to one year sooner in approximately 45% of cases while simultaneously reducing false positive detection rates by 18% (Adams, Scott J. et al. JACR September 2022).

As Chris Wood, CEO of RevealDx says, “Our integration with ADVANCE Chest CT simplifies the interpretation of lung nodules. Automatically detected nodules have their mSI scores calculated before the radiologist starts reading the exam, which should save time while providing clinical insight.”

The latest version of contextflow ADVANCE Chest CT also includes a nodule tracking report to visualize and quantify changes in nodules over time. contextflow ADVANCE Chest CT is a CE marked medical device under MDR. For more information, contact sales@contextflow.com or visit contextflow.com.

About contextflow

About RevealDx

RevealDx developed RevealAI-Lung, the world’s first CADx software for the characterization of lung nodules to receive the CE Mark. RevealAI-Lung has been validated in clinical studies that show improvement in diagnostic precision using our patented methods. Results demonstrate the software can significantly accelerate lung cancer diagnosis and reduce unnecessary procedures. https://reveal-dx.com/

For more information, contact:

Julie Sufana, Chief Marketing Officer, contextflow

Email: julie@contextflow.com

Phone: +43 676 920 1032

Chris Wood, CEO, RevealDx

Email: chris@reveal-dx.com

Phone: +01 425 895 2845

Other News

News

contextflow Set to Secure Europe’s First Radiology AI Reimbursement Contract

News

AI in practice: AIFI pilot started in five Dutch hospitals

contextflow gewinnt den Wettbewerb Healthy Hub von vier Krankenkassen: Innovative Lösungen für Frauengesundheit und Früherkennung

News Awards Press

2024-03-13

DORTMUND, 13.03.2024. Die Gewinnerinnen und Gewinner des Healthy-Hub-Wettbewerbs 2024 wollen die Gesundheit von Frauen mit innovativer Versorgung verbessern. Die verschiedenen Angebote beziehen sich auf unterschiedliche Lebensphasen und Krankheitsbilder – von hybriden Tests gegen HPV-Viren, über die Versorgung bei frauentypischen Krankheiten wie Endometriose, bis hin zu einer innovativen Therapie bei Beschwerden in der Menopause. Menschen mit Lungenerkrankungen sollen in Sachen Früherkennung besser betreut werden. Diese Themen gehen die Siegerteams jeweils mit einer der vier Krankenkassen – BIG direkt gesund, IKK Südwest, mhplus Krankenkasse und SBK Siemens-Betriebskrankenkasse – an. Die Kassen haben den Wettbewerb bereits zum fünften Mal gemeinsam ausgerichtet.

„Im Fokus standen dieses Mal selektivvertragliche Versorgungslösungen, die insbesondere das Gender Health Gap, also die Ungleichheit der Versorgung von Frauen gegenüber Männern, berücksichtigen sollten“, erläutert Dr. Elmar Waldschmitt, Geschäftsführer des Healthy Hub und Vorstandsbeauftragter bei der BIG. Die medizinische Forschung und Versorgung sei leider immer noch zu stark auf Männer fokussiert.

Aus gut 40 Bewerbungen wurden die Gewinnerinnen und Gewinner ausgewählt. Diese sind:

Remi Health, Kassenpartnerin BIG direkt gesund

Remi Health hat eine Früherkennung gegen Gebärmutterhalskrebs entwickelt, bei der sich weibliche Versicherte zuhause auf Humane Papillomviren (HPV) testen können. Bei auffälligem Befund sind eine Online-Beratung und die Terminvereinbarung bei einer Gynäkologin oder einem Gynäkologen vorgesehen. Die digitale Plattform von Remi klärt zudem über die Bedeutung der Vorsorge und Früherkennung auf. „Der niedrigschwellige HPV-Test vereint Heimtests, Telemedizin und Prävention in einem nahtlosen Prozess“, erläutert Marvin Abert, Co-CEO von Remi Health. „Damit möchten wir insbesondere junge Frauen erreichen, die bislang die Krebsvorsorgeuntersuchungen nicht in Anspruch nehmen und keine Immunität durch eine HPV-Impfung besitzen. Der HPV-Selbsttest von Remi Health ist unserer Ansicht nach ein innovativer Lösungsansatz, um die Krebsvorsorge sinnvoll zu ergänzen“, sagt Christiane Heidrich, Teamleiterin Managed Care der BIG direkt gesund.

Femna Health, Kassenpartnerin SBK Siemens-Betriebskrankenkasse

Rund ein Drittel der Frauen im fertilen Alter, also in den fruchtbaren Jahren, leidet unter stark einschränkenden physischen, psychischen und sozialen Belastungen aufgrund von Zyklusbeschwerden. Darunter fallen Erkrankungen wie PMS, Endometriose oder auch Dysmenorrhö. „Die aktuelle Versorgung geht unter anderem aufgrund von mangelnden Therapiemöglichkeiten, langen Wartezeiten und fehlender individueller Betreuung diese Probleme nicht adäquat an. FEMNA hat deshalb ein hybrides Versorgungsmodell entwickelt, das Frauen eine verbesserte, vollumfängliche und sofortige Versorgung ermöglicht“, erklärt Maxie Matthiessen, Gründerin von Femna Health. „Femna Care verbessert Verhaltensmuster und hilft, Folgeerkrankungen zu vermeiden sowie die Lebensqualität betroffener Frauen zu steigern“, sagt Christina Bernards, Teamleiterin Versorgungsmanagement, SBK Siemens-Betriebskrankenkasse. „Für uns ein echtes Herzensthema, denn gerade die Frauengesundheit wird in Medizin und Forschung massiv vernachlässigt und unterfinanziert. Es wird Zeit, dass wir das ändern.“

YoniCare, Kassenpartnerin mhplus Krankenkasse

Mit YoniCare (MICADO HEALTH CARE GmbH) hat der Healthy Hub erstmals ein nicht-digitales Versorgungsprodukt im Portfolio. YoniCare ermöglicht eine Lasertherapie zur Behandlung des genitourinären Syndroms. „Der sinkende Östrogenspiegel in der Menopause führt bei Frauen unter anderem zu Scheidentrockenheit, Veränderungen im Vaginalgewebe sowie der Vaginalschleimhaut und in der Folge zu Beschwerden wie Jucken, Inkontinenz, Infekten und anderen Beschwerden“, so Mandy Wilms von der MICADO HEALTH CARE GmbH. Die Therapie kann das vaginale Epithel revitalisieren, das die Vagina und den Scheidenvorhof auskleidet. Die Beschwerden nehmen ab und die gynäkologische Gesundheit wird wiederhergestellt. „Die Therapie kann eine Hormonersatztherapie überflüssig machen und Wechselwirkungen mit Medikamenten reduzieren“, sagt Fabienne Knaub, Referentin Selektivverträge und Versorgungsanalyse der mhplus Krankenkasse.

contextflow, Kassenpartnerin IKK Südwest

Bei Erkrankungen im Thoraxbereich ist eine Früherkennung wesentlich für den Therapieerfolg. „Wir bieten eine KI-Software, die ergänzende Informationen zur Identifizierung und Interpretation von lungenspezifischen Bildmustern in Scans vom Computertomographen bietet“, so Markus Holzer, CEO und Co-Founder von contextflow. Das ultimative Ziel der Software ist es, Lungenkrebs so früh wie möglich zu erkennen, um Ressourcen des Gesundheitssystems zu sparen und Patientinnen und Patienten vor unnötigen Eingriffen zu schützen. „Die Bildanalyse-KI ermöglicht den befundenden Radiologen eine schnellere und bessere Beurteilung relevanter Bildmuster von Lungenkrebs und respiratorischen Erkrankungen“, sagt Dr. Florian Brandt, Health Innovation Manager der IKK Südwest.

Anwendungsfälle für die Versorgungspraxis entwickeln

Die vier Krankenkassen entwickeln in den nächsten Monaten gemeinsam den Gewinnerteams konkrete Anwendungsfälle, die für den Einsatz in der Gesetzlichen Krankenversicherung (GKV) geeignet sind. „Unser Ziel ist es, dass diese innovativen Versorgungsmethoden in der Versorgungspraxis ankommen“, so Dr. Elmar Waldschmitt. Zudem wird der Kooperationspartner des Healthyhub, die GWQ ServicePlus AG, in die Entwicklung von Anfang an eingebunden.

Über den Healthy Hub

Seit 2018 engagieren sich die vier Krankenkassen BIG direkt gesund, IKK Südwest, mhplus Krankenkasse sowie SBK Siemens-Betriebskrankenkasse mit dem Healthy Hub für die Digitalisierung des Gesundheitswesens. Ziel ist es, innovative Lösungen für eine bessere, integrierte Versorgung zu ermöglichen. Dazu organisieren die Kassen regelmäßig Wettbewerbe für Start-ups. So haben sie bereits 27 Start-ups in die Versorgung gebracht.

Über BIG direkt gesund

Die BundesInnungskrankenkasse Gesundheit – kurz BIG direkt gesund – wurde 1996 in Dortmund gegründet. Die große Idee hinter der BIG: Wir schaffen Raum fürs Menschsein. Gemeint ist damit eine moderne Online-Ausrichtung und empathischer Service, der schnell und lösungsorientiert ist. Die BIG bietet vielseitige Kommunikationswege passend zum jeweiligen Lebensstil ihrer bundesweit rund 510.000 Versicherten. Diese Kundinnen und Kunden erfahren eine wertschätzende und verständliche Beratung per Telefon, Chat, Mail oder Brief. Viele Zusatzleistungen sowie ein attraktives Bonusprogramm sind weitere große Pluspunkte. BIG direkt gesund hat ihren Rechtssitz in Berlin, ihre Hauptverwaltung in Dortmund und einen wichtigen Verwaltungsstandort in Aachen. Die BIG beschäftigt an den operativen Standorten rund 950 Mitarbeiterinnen und Mitarbeiter, in 11 BIGshops wird Beratung vor Ort angeboten.

Für Rückfragen

Bettina Kiwitt

Leiterin Unternehmenskommunikation

Tel.: 0231/5557-1016

E-Mail: bettina.kiwitt@big-direkt.de

Über die IKK Südwest:

Aktuell betreut die IKK Südwest mehr als 635.000 Versicherte und über 90.000 Betriebe in Hessen, Rheinland-Pfalz und im Saarland. Versicherte und Interessenten können auf eine persönliche Betreuung in unseren 21 Kundencentern in der Region vertrauen. Darüber hinaus ist die IKK Südwest an sieben Tagen in der Woche rund um die Uhr über die IKK Service-Hotline 0681/ 3876 1000 oder www.ikk-suedwest.de zu erreichen.

Für Rückfragen

Mathias Gessner

Pressesprecher

Tel.: 0681/3876-1163

E-Mail: presse@ikk-sw.de

Über die mhplus Krankenkasse:

Die mhplus Krankenkasse ist offen für gesetzlich Krankenversicherte. Rund 1.000 Mitarbeitende betreuen deutschlandweit mehr als eine halbe Million Versicherte. Unabhängige Tests belegen hohe Servicestandards und solide Finanzen. Der Zusatzbeitrag der mhplus beträgt seit 2023 stabil 1,58 Prozent.

Für Rückfragen

Isabell Rabe

Leiterin Presse und Politik
Tel.: 07141/9790–9845

E-Mail: presse@mhplus.de

Über die SBK:

Die SBK Siemens-Betriebskrankenkasse ist die größte Betriebskrankenkasse Deutschlands und gehört zu den 20 größten gesetzlichen Krankenkassen. Als geöffnete, bundesweit tätige Krankenkasse versichert sie mehr als eine Million Menschen und betreut über 100.000 Firmenkunden in Deutschland – mit rund 2000 Mitarbeiterinnen und Mitarbeitern in 86 Geschäftsstellen. Seit über 100 Jahren setzt sich die SBK persönlich und engagiert für die Interessen der Versicherten ein. Sie positioniert sich als Vorreiter für einen echten Qualitätswettbewerb in der gesetzlichen Krankenversicherung. Voraussetzung dafür ist aus Sicht der SBK mehr Transparenz für die Versicherten – über relevante Finanzkennzahlen, aber auch über Leistungsbereitschaft, Beratung und Dienstleistungsqualität von Krankenkassen. Im Sinne des Kunden vereint die SBK darüber hinaus das Beste aus persönlicher und digitaler Welt und treibt die Digitalisierung im Gesundheitswesen aktiv voran.

Für Rückfragen

Julia Mederle

Stab Unternehmenskommunikation

Tel.: +49 89 62700-363

E-Mail: julia.mederle@sbk.org Internet: www.sbk.org

Other News

News

contextflow Set to Secure Europe’s First Radiology AI Reimbursement Contract

News

AI in practice: AIFI pilot started in five Dutch hospitals

contextflow included in Spanish study on rheumatoid arthritis and ILD diagnosis

News Research

2024-03-13

The Spanish Society of Rheumatology is currently conducting a research study to explore the prevalence and early diagnosis of interstitial lung disease (ILD) in individuals diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis (RA). Fifteen rheumatology departments will work on the study together with the radiology departments in Spain in 2024 and 2025, and hereby make use of radiology AI in rheumatology.

This collaboration will address an important healthcare issue: the early detection of ILDs, which tend to go undetected until later stages. This, in turn, negatively impacts patient outcomes, particularly when a patient suffers from cardiovascular diseases.

Rheumatoid arthritis is a systemic autoimmune disease that predominately involves joints, but it can develop into inflammation in lungs, heart, eyes. The expectation is that approximately 30% of rheumatoid arthritis patients may develop diffuse ILDs, underscoring the need for effective screening criteria. Early diagnosis is hard due to the lack of standard. To achieve this goal, the research team has outlined specific criteria for participant selection, and the study aims to recruit over 450 patients across 15 hospital centers. The study results will hopefully help define strategies for early detection of ILD in patients with rheumatoid arthritis.

contextflow ADVANCE Chest CT as the AI solution will deliver automatic quantification regarding the extent of ILD in the study population, enabling detailed examination of the lung parenchyma. Furthermore, the study will compare the interstitial involvement of the lung parenchyma in chest CTs assessed by radiologists and compare them to the results from the automatic detection of ILD-associated patterns by contextflow’s AI software.

While specific lung patterns under assessment remain unclear, the integration of AI-driven analysis promises to enhance accuracy and efficiency of diagnosis.

Radiology AI solution for better diagnosis

This collaborative effort aims to improve early detection and management of ILDs in rheumatoid arthritis patients, potentially leading to better outcomes and quality of life for affected individuals. It is a great example of how radiology AI solution can be used in rheumatology.