Butterfly Network, maker of the world’s first hand-held whole-body ultrasound, has partnered with medical data management company Ambra Health, the companies announced Tuesday.
Together, they hope to enhance data integration and improve the secure shareability of medical imaging data across health organizations.
The partnership allows for “fortifying the foundational infrastructure that allows us to operate within large healthcare systems,” Darius Shahida, chief strategy and business development officer at Butterfly Network, told Fierce Healthcare. Apart from the way each company’s technology complements the other’s, the two also share overlap in their customer bases, Shahida said.
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"We are excited to partner with Butterfly Network and believe the value our two companies bring to hospitals and health systems will be significant. Encounter-based imaging has the power to transform diagnostics and care delivery. Ambra’s cloud-based technological underpinning is poised to speed realization of this potential,” said Morris Panner, president of Ambra’s parent company Intelerad, in the announcement.
Shahida called Butterfly’s imager technology the “new stethoscope—part of the core physical exam.” Point-of-care ultrasonography can improve diagnoses and care management, particularly in under-resourced areas, as well as reduce costs. Butterfly’s scanner has been deployed in healthcare settings and African villages, and the company partners more than 100 NGOs globally, including the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, according to Shahida. It is now also being deployed in medical schools like Temple University.
The integrated offering will be commercially available starting this quarter.