Segmed and Verily to Expand Imaging Data Access
Segmed has partnered with Verily to expand access to real-world imaging data for clinical AI development and research. The collaboration will pool de-identified imaging datasets from diverse sources to accelerate algorithm validation and the creation of clinical decision support tools. The move signals the growing importance of strategic data alliances in the imaging AI ecosystem.
- Verily, an Alphabet company, is pursuing a broad strategy of building a comprehensive data platform for "precision health" through partnerships with health systems like UCHealth, biopharma companies like Pfizer and Novartis, and now data providers like Segmed. The goal is to integrate complex, multimodal health data to accelerate research and the development of AI-powered healthcare solutions. - The partnership provides researchers access to Segmed's library of approximately 150 million de-identified imaging exams sourced from a global network across five continents. Access to such large, diverse datasets is critical for mitigating bias and improving the generalizability of AI models, a major hurdle in AI development. - This collaboration directly addresses a primary bottleneck in clinical AI development: the scarcity of high-quality, well-annotated, real-world data needed for training and validating algorithms. The FDA encourages the use of real-world data to ensure AI models perform reliably across the diverse patient populations seen in actual clinical practice. - The number of FDA-cleared AI and machine learning-enabled medical devices surged to over 1,000 for radiology alone by early 2026, with imaging-related tools consistently making up the vast majority of all medical AI approvals. This rapid pace of regulatory clearance intensifies the competitive need for the high-quality data assets required to build and validate new tools. - The outpatient imaging market is outpacing the overall radiology market's growth, with one analysis estimating that 40% of all imaging volumes are now performed in non-hospital settings. This ongoing site-of-care shift toward more convenient and cost-effective freestanding centers is driving investment in technologies like AI to optimize workflow and support advanced imaging modalities. - Projections show the global medical imaging market growing to $71.2 billion by 2034, up from $46.8 billion in 2025. This growth is fueled by technological innovation in AI and a strategic shift toward data-driven, predictive analytics over purely interpretive reads. - Segmed has also entered into partnerships with companies like Datavant and Bayer, signaling a strategy to deepen the value of its imaging data by linking it with other datasets, such as clinical trial data, claims, and electronic health records. This creation of more comprehensive patient profiles is a key trend aimed at accelerating evidence-based medical innovation.
