Google Cloud is injecting $100 million into a supplier of telehealth platforms, partly to build out AI systems for helping hospitals remotely handle patient inquiries, intake and triage.

The Illinois Bone and Joint Institute (IBJI) treats patients in the Chicago area for every orthopedic issue under the sun, from rheumatoid arthritis to total knee replacements, and its 100-plus physicians order thousands of imaging exams on an annual basis.

Plus, imaging workers claim unsafe conditions in California, and Alabama expands scope-of-practice rules for physician assistants. 

It was back in May that the FDA first gave its emergency OK for the use of these transparent devices, designed to cover a patient’s head and upper body to prevent the spread of germs during procedures. 

“They were fighting to do the job well, even though the conditions had become rough,” Lizzy Rainey, with Franciscan Health in Lafayette, Indiana, said Friday.

Stepping into the fray on broad societal issues “takes physicians into realms where they have no expertise—and thus risks eroding public trust in the medical profession,” a distinguished physician suggests.

Barriers such as time and a lack of education credits are keeping imaging physicians from getting the full benefit of these meetings, experts reported in European Radiology. 

Radiology experts recently detailed the case of a 50-year-old male admitted to an ED with unexplained CNS disfunction and cerebral edema.