Spesana Partners with Imbio to Add Quantitative Imaging to Its Molecular Diagnostics Decision Support Platform

Spesana, a healthcare platform focused for molecular diagnostics-driven decision support and clinical collaboration, and Imbio, a leading provider of artificial intelligence (AI) solutions for medical imaging analysis, have joined forces to bring quantitative imaging results to the frontlines of patient care.

“Spesana’s technology uniquely provides molecular diagnostic selection and ordering, tracks test status and displays results with a unified view of data from EHRs, prior authorizations, approved drugs and pathways,” said Carla Balch, CEO of Spesana. “Imaging biomarkers have the potential to significantly improve patient diagnosis, treatment, and understanding of response to therapy. This partnership, which combines Imbio’s expertise in imaging biomarkers with Spesana’s real world data and Instant Collaborations with molecular and imaging experts, has the potential to further deliver on the promise of more personalized healthcare.”

“Imaging AI can and does generate additional, and sometimes intimidating, but valuable information,” said Mike Hostetler, Director of Marketing and Sales of Imbio. “The challenge for caregivers and health systems is ingesting and acting on all of that new information, and then translating that to serving patients detected by radiology’s broader adoption of imaging AI. The Spesana platform offers a unique solution by synthesizing the data for providers, facilitating the right patient to the right care team, and presenting only the information they need when they need it. For Imbio clients, that means patients with lung and cardiothoracic abnormalities can be treated by the right specialist sooner rather than later.”

The partnership plans to initially focus on improving care and reducing costs associated with chronic lung diseases such as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and emphysema. In 2020, COPD cost the U.S. Health System an estimated $49 billion. The aggregate of hospitalization costs accounts for 45-50% of COPD-related health care expenditures, where the average hospitalization cost for a single episode of COPD exacerbation is approximately $7,100. Additionally, emphysema levels greater than 5% on a CT scan have been found to be associated with a 3.8-fold increased lung cancer risk. Together, Spesana and Imbio intend to reduce the cost of care for diseases like COPD and emphysema, and improve the delivery of that care by providing early detection, quantification, and a comprehensive patient management solution – before exacerbations can compound.