Topcon Healthcare (THI) is partnering with Microsoft Corp. to deliver AI-powered ‘Healthcare from the Eye’ solutions, which the company says is aimed at improving health care access, cost and quality. A cloud-based connected network of health-care providers using the Nuance Precision Imaging Network and the THI Harmony platform aim to empower patients and health-care providers to participate in pre-screening for systemic and neurological disease via a robotic, rapid and non-invasive eye scan, THI stated in a press release.

Since establishing the Microsoft collaboration in February, THI said it has initiated several projects to advance this mission. One of these was a collaboration with the University of California, San Diego that aims to show the value of AI-powered screening and coordinated care of diabetic patients across primary care, optometry and ophthalmology. 
 
To accelerate AI research and innovation for 'Healthcare from the Eye,' THI also established the Institute for Digital Health (IDHea). IDHea, a large, secure, population database platform, is governed by an external data access and governance committee to ensure fair and ethical access to data. IDHea is engaged in multiple research studies with organizations including Visionworks, Keplr Vision and UC San Diego Health Shiley Eye Institute, integrating Microsoft Azure secure cloud-storage and advanced computing technologies to ensure data security and protect propriety algorithms.