The use of artificial intelligence, or AI, is proliferating in the medical field, especially in diagnostics and treatment management. To date, there has been a wide range of research into how AI can aid clinical decisions and enhance physicians’ judgment. Artificial intelligence can assist providers in various patient care settings and intelligent health systems. Artificial intelligence techniques ranging from machine learning to deep learning are widely used in healthcare to diagnose diseases, the development of new drugs, and the identification of patient risk factors. With a vision to revolutionize the quality, accessibility, equity, and affordability of healthcare globally by integrating technology into the medical diagnosis and treatment processes, Digital Diagnostics, formerly IDx, is a leading AI diagnostics firm. Michael Abramoff, MD, Ph.D., a fellowship-trained retina specialist, neuroscientist, and computer engineer who founded Digital Diagnostics, created an autonomous AI platform that makes clinical judgments without human involvement, relieving professionals of the burden of diagnosing common disorders. As autonomous AI diagnosis becomes the new standard of care, Digital Diagnostics is laying the groundwork to democratize healthcare, remove care gaps, and enhance patient outcomes.

By working closely with patient advocacy groups, federal regulators, and other quality-of-care and ethics-focused stakeholders, Digital Diagnostics is working with the healthcare system to enable the continued adoption of autonomous AI. The first business to ever get FDA approval for an AI diagnostic platform that determines a diagnosis without physician involvement at the point of care was Digital Diagnostics (formerly known as IDx), which achieved this feat in April 2018. The AI diagnostic platform that Dr. Abramoff had envisioned years ago is the first digital diagnostic product to receive FDA clearance. At the point of care, the platform, known as IDx-DR, finds diabetic retinopathy (including macular edema). The IDx-DR became the first FDA-cleared AI diagnostic system to make a diagnosis at the point of care without physician input after completing a demanding prospective, preregistered clinical trial at primary care facilities across the nation. Digital Diagnostics has actively worked from within the healthcare system to make automated diagnosis the new norm for treatment. Digital Diagnostics has demonstrated that intelligent diagnostic platforms can be deployed safely and responsibly to improve patient outcomes and boost healthcare productivity, from the launch of a real-world clinic and the integration of an EMR to the development of the first autonomous AI CPT® category 1 code for billing and payment. IDx-DR is an AI diagnostic system that autonomously diagnoses patients for diabetic retinopathy (including macular edema). IDx-DR is for medical professionals who want to provide patients with rigorously validated and ethically designed diagnostic results at the point of care, allowing for more comprehensive diabetes care and improved performance with diabetic eye exam quality measures.

Dr. Michael Abramoff is the creator of Digital Diagnostics. He observed people with diabetic retinopathy coming to visit him when the condition was already too advanced for them to receive the best care when he was preparing to become an ophthalmologist and retina specialist. Dr. Abramoff saw the immense potential of “Autonomous AI,” which makes a diagnosis without human supervision, to raise patient access and treatment quality while cutting costs. The safety and equity involved in entrusting a computer to make a diagnosis rather than a doctor required particular thought to create the unique technology that Dr. Abramoff had envisioned. It was necessary to approach the development of such technology with an emphasis on creating to ensure that patients, doctors, and the general public would trust and embrace autonomous AI. This led to the founding of what would eventually become Digital Diagnostics’ ethical principles: to maximize the safety, efficacy, and equity of autonomous AI. “Over the past decades, productivity in health care has not kept pace with other sectors. Patients and providers worldwide are paying the price. Our mission at IDx (now Digital Diagnostics) has always been to transform the quality, accessibility, and affordability of global health care through the automation of medical diagnosis”, stated Dr. Michael Abramoff