With increasing demand for efficiency in healthcare, and the potential for AI to reduce misdiagnoses – the third leading cause of death in the U.S. – the industry is at a crucial inflection point.
In a recent “Crossroads” by Alantra podcast, Elad Walach, CEO of Aidoc, shared his perspectives on how the company is reshaping the clinical AI landscape, from its early days in radiology to becoming a comprehensive AI platform driving real-world impact in hospitals worldwide.
Below are highlights from the conversation with the full podcast, hosted by Frederic Laurier, available here.
Walach and his co-founders started Aidoc in 2016 with a focus on improving radiology workflows. However, it quickly became clear that hospitals couldn’t adopt AI solutions in a disease-by-disease fashion — there were too many inefficiencies and too much friction in integrating multiple vendors.
This realization led to Aidoc’s evolution from a radiology AI company to a full-scale clinical AI platform, capable of supporting multiple specialties, integrating AI into workflows and driving measurable clinical outcomes.
While developing accurate AI algorithms is critical, true success lies in adoption. Walach explained how Aidoc takes a three-layered approach to ensure AI delivers measurable improvements in patient care:
One example is Aidoc’s stroke workflow implementation at Ochsner Health, which reduced door-to-needle time by nearly 40 minutes. The key? Not just AI but carefully mapping each workflow step and ensuring smooth adoption across teams.
Early in Aidoc’s journey, Walach had a revealing conversation with a major payer executive about the challenges of AI adoption in healthcare. When he proposed developing an AI tool to detect lung cancer earlier and improve patient follow-up, the executive’s response was eye-opening.
While acknowledging that earlier disease detection could lower healthcare costs and improve outcomes, the executive dismissed the idea, explaining that his company only “owns” patients for two to three years. Since the financial benefits would likely be realized later — beyond their coverage period — they had no incentive to invest in it.
This moment underscored a fundamental issue in U.S. healthcare: misaligned incentives that prioritize short-term cost savings over long-term patient health. This short-term mindset is why many successful AI companies today focus on direct ROI to providers, rather than waiting for payer reimbursement models to evolve.
One of the most game-changing innovations in clinical AI is the development of foundation models, which Aidoc is pioneering through CARE1™.
Historically, it took AI developers up to a year and a half to create an AI solution for a single disease. With foundation models, Aidoc can now develop new AI solutions in a matter of weeks, drastically accelerating the expansion of AI across multiple clinical areas.
“This is one of the biggest inflection points for the industry,” Walach explained. “The foundation model is a piece of technology that can identify many, many diseases all at once, and therefore if you want to develop more use cases, now instead of taking a year and a half to develop them, you can do it in a week.”
The clinical AI market is highly fragmented, with over 500 imaging AI vendors. Many rely on marketplaces, but Walach argues that the future lies in unified AI platforms rather than loosely connected applications with shallow integration.
Aidoc’s aiOS™ platform provides hospitals with a fully integrated AI ecosystem, ensuring that AI applications work together seamlessly, with standardized monitoring, analytics and workflow integration.
Interested in learning more about Aidoc? Request a consultation.
Aidoc experts, customers and industry leaders share the latest in AI benefits and adoption.
Explore how clinical AI can transform your health system with insights rooted in real-world experiences.
Learn how to go beyond the algorithm to develop a scalable AI strategy and implementation plan.
Explore how Aidoc can help increase hospital efficiency, improve outcomes and demonstrate ROI.
