Avanade, a leading Microsoft solutions provider and Duke Health have partnered together to design, build and implement Avanade’s Smart AI Governance Engine (SAIGE), a-first-of-its-kind healthcare-specific AI governance platform, using the power of Microsoft Azure and Microsoft Fabric. The initiative advances Duke Health’s commitment to maintaining ethical and responsible standards while employing the transformative power of AI within clinical settings.

“The healthcare industry currently lacks a standardised governance process to implement trustworthy AI responsibly,” said Dr. Michael Pencina, Duke Health’s chief data scientist. “We’re excited to have the opportunity to leverage our expertise and our Algorithmic-Based Clinical Decision Support (ABCDS) methodology as the basis for a scalable platform.”

SAIGE will empower healthcare AI professionals to shepherd new AI models through a standardised governance process, ensuring responsible implementation of AI within clinical workflows. The AI governance platform emphasises traceability and transparency, catering to institutions that currently rely on manual governance workflows, such as spreadsheets, email, and chat, or smaller institutions that lack the dedicated resources for AI development and evaluation.

AI model owners will benefit from enhanced digital collaboration, enabling them to gather metadata from AI developers seamlessly. A digital AI collaboration space will be launched in 2025 to exchange information and test AI models quickly and securely with developers and other healthcare institutions, fostering innovation and collaboration in the field.

“As a Microsoft partner, Avanade is uniquely positioned to collaborate effectively with Duke Health to use Microsoft’s platform that digitises the proven AI compliance methodology developed by Duke,” said Lee Ayling, Managing Director, Avanade/ Accenture. “Our efforts extend beyond creating the technical platform; we are also establishing a customer service organisation to assist healthcare providers and AI vendors in registering, accessing and sharing AI algorithms to drive improved clinical outcomes for healthcare users across the United States.”

The full breadth of Avanade is being invested in the SAIGE platform, across its strategic advisory, Avanade X, and technology business groups to build, commercialise, and operate the platform for its customers.

“AI is changing how we provide better outcomes for patients at a rapidly accelerating rate. These are very exciting times to see unfolding before us,” said Dr. David Rhew, Global Chief Medical Officer for Microsoft. “We’re pleased to see the power of Microsoft Azure and Microsoft Fabric utilised as the backbone of this responsible AI governance platform to help healthcare institutions, both large and small, harness the power of AI to help their patients.”

For more information on SAIGE, visit www.avanade.com/en/industry/health/smart-ai-governance-engine