Predictive analytics platform CLEW is working with two Israeli hospitals to manage and treat patients infected with the COVID-19 virus, while protecting frontline care workers.

Its TeleICU solution CLEW-ICU is being deployed at Sheba Medical Center and the Ichilov Hospital at Tel Aviv Sourasky Medical Center.

The platform uses artificial intelligence (AI) based predictive analytics to exponentially expand ICU capacity and resources. Its algorithms are trained to identify respiratory deterioration in advance, enabling early interventions that might change the clinical outcome, especially in COVID-19 patients. This allows healthcare workers to identify disease severity from a remote command center.

In anticipation of a surge in intensive care unit (ICU) admissions, both organisations are establishing field-ICU facilities, each of which will be the largest ICU units in Israel. 

These field units will use telemedicine technologies to provide remote patient monitoring from centralised command and control facilities.

WHY IT MATTERS 

CLEW says its machine learning models enable ICU workers to proactively manage disease severity and workload. The telemedicine-based system is used remotely, so can be scaled to cope with patient volume surges, while reducing a caregiver’s exposure risk to infected patients.

THE LARGER CONTEXT 

Sheba Medical Center has been turning to telehealth to treat incoming COVID-19 patients, with solutions such as Datos's remote patient monitoring platform, Tyto Care's connected devices, a robot from InTouch Health, and XRHealth’s virtual reality telehealth services to treat and monitor patients.

Israeli blood testing startup Sight Diagnostics also recently announced that it is working with the medical centre to safely process blood samples of COVID-19 patients being monitored and treated in a field hospital. 

ON THE RECORD 

Prof. James Blum, chairman of CLEW’s scientific advisory board said: “AI combined with telemedicine is a force multiplier and can be used to provide patient acuity classification and monitoring at a massive scale. This enables ICUs to identify and anticipate patient acuity in advance which is critical to leveraging limited resources.”

Gal Salomon, CLEW CEO, said: “COVID-19 is a major health concern that demands novel approaches, international cooperation and the sharing of strategies that work. At this time of great necessity, CLEW is pleased to be able to provide a meaningful contribution to the effort by making the very latest technologies available to the healthcare providers.”

Prof. Ronni Gamzu, CEO of Tel Aviv Sourasky Medical Center, said: “Faced with a massive increase in ICU admissions, AI and machine learning tools can play a pivotal role in reducing disease severity and workload. Realtime risk stratification will enable timely interventions and improved clinical outcomes for critically ill patients.”