Verizon and Emory Healthcare have entered into a strategic partnership to develop and test 5G use cases that could transform the healthcare industry, the U.S. carrier said in a release.
As part of the partnership, Verizon lit up the Emory Healthcare Innovation Hub (EHIH) with its 5G Ultra Wideband service. The carrier claimed that EHIH will be the nation’s first 5G healthcare innovation lab.
EHIH is a healthcare advancement and commercialization program committed to improving the patient care and provider experience. Under this partnership, Verizon will collaborate with Emory Healthcare and its nine Innovation Hub partners, including founding partner Sharecare, to help spur the development of healthcare solutions powered by 5G technology.
Verizon highlighted that the bandwidth, speeds and ultra-low latency of Verizon’s 5G network have the potential to help redefine patient care with real-time data analytics, giving researchers the ability to explore solutions such as connected ambulances, remote physical therapy and next-generation medical imaging. EHIH will be able to test how 5G could enhance augmented and virtual reality (AR/VR) applications for medical training, enable telemedicine and remote patient monitoring, and provide point of care diagnostic and imaging systems from the ambulance to the ER.
“The potential of Verizon 5G Ultra Wideband combined with mobile edge computing to transform healthcare is limitless,” said Tami Erwin, CEO of Verizon Business Group. “Which is why Verizon is partnering with Emory to explore the 5G future of patient care. With 5G, doctors should be able to do things like create holographic 3D anatomical renderings that can be studied from every angle and even projected onto the body in the OR to help guide surgery.”
“The healthcare industry, driven by value-based care and increased consumerization, is set for a paradigm shift that will put a much greater focus on connectivity and access to data,” said Scott D. Boden, MD, vice president for business innovation for Emory Healthcare. “Across every facet of healthcare, from care innovation to reimbursement model transformation to decentralization of care, speed to data is critical to the digital evolution of health.”
This engagement is part of Verizon’s broader strategy to partner with customers, startups, universities and large enterprises to explore how 5G can disrupt and transform industries.
The carrier currently operates five 5G Labs in the U.S. and one 5G Lab in London that specialize in developing 5G uses cases in industries ranging from health care to public safety to entertainment.
The London facility was inaugurated earlier this month and is located at Verizon’s Mid City Place office in central London. The facility offers a live Verizon 5G-enabled environment where organizations can develop and test 5G applications and experiences.
Organizations visiting the lab can see existing 5G use cases and experiences in action, and can also work with the Verizon team to develop 5G-enabled applications, the carrier said.
Potential use cases include exploring how autonomous vehicles, smart communities, virtual healthcare, smart manufacturing, the industrial Internet of Things, immersive education, augmented and virtual reality and responsive gaming can be enhanced with 5G’s speeds, massive bandwidth and low latency, Verizon said.
