Mayo Clinic, Google to Form Healthcare Partnership

Mayo Clinic and Google announced a 10-year strategic partnership designed to redefine how healthcare is delivered and to accelerate the pace of healthcare innovation through digital technologies. 

Mayo Clinic selected Google Cloud to be the cornerstone of its digital transformation. Mayo will use advanced cloud computing, data analytics, machine learning, and artificial intelligence (AI) to redefine healthcare delivery, bringing together global providers and consumers to make healthcare better, the Rochester, Minnesota-based medical center reports.

"Data-driven medical innovation is growing exponentially, and our partnership with Google will help us lead the digital transformation in healthcare," Gianrico Farrugia, MD, president and CEO of Mayo Clinic, said in a statement. "It will empower us to solve some of the most complex medical problems; better anticipate the needs of people we serve; and meet them when, where, and how they need us. We will share our knowledge and expertise globally while caring for people locally and always do it with a human touch." 

The collaboration will combine the clinical knowledge and expertise from Mayo Clinic with the digital technology and data security expertise from Google to develop solutions for people who want medicine to deliver on the promise of scientific and technological advances. 

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With the help of Google, Mayo Clinic will transform the way it advances virtual care with AI-enabled digital diagnostics. Mayo also will leverage Google technology to boost its ability to conduct medical research. Through this partnership, Mayo Clinic will be able to develop and deploy new machine learning models designed to improve treatment precision and clinical outcomes of diseases.

"We're proud to partner with the Mayo Clinic in its mission to bring the best healthcare to every patient," Google CEO Sundar Pichai said in a statement. "Healthcare is one of the most important fields that technology will help transform over the next decade, and it's a major area of investment for Google. By pairing the Mayo Clinic's world-class clinical expertise with our capabilities in AI and cloud computing, we have an extraordinary opportunity to develop services that will significantly improve lives."

Google Cloud will secure and store Mayo Clinic's data, while working with Mayo Clinic to apply AI and other cloud computing technologies to solve complex healthcare problems. However, Mayo Clinic will continue to control access and use of its patient data by using Google's cloud technologies. Mayo Clinic will specifically authorize the use of data in projects to create new healthcare insights and solutions in conjunction with partners, including Google. Mayo Clinic will manage access to all data using rigorous long-standing institutional controls.

Under the partnership, Google also will open a new office in Rochester, where its engineers will work side by side with Mayo Clinic researchers, physicians, information technology staff, and data scientists, to apply advanced computing techniques to healthcare problems.