Us2.ai is proud to be part of a real-world success story at The Christ Hospital Health Network in Cincinnati, Ohio, one of the United States' leading cardiovascular care centres. The Christ Hospital has deployed Merge Cardio 12.5, the latest release of the 10-time Best in KLAS cardiology imaging solution, with Us2.ai's AI-powered echocardiography platform integrated directly into the workflow.
The Christ Hospital, known regionally as the Heart Hospital, completes more than 33,000 echocardiogram procedures annually across five outpatient sites. Faced with growing patient volumes, appointment backlogs, measurement variability, and mounting pressure on sonographers and cardiologists, the network sought to evolve its long-standing deployment of Merge Cardio to address these challenges head on.
As an early adopter of Merge Cardio 12.5, The Christ Hospital worked directly with Us2.ai and Merge to integrate AI-automated echocardiogram measurements into its existing cardiology imaging workflows. The pilot programme, launched in December 2022, used over 4,000 anonymized exams to train the algorithm, with the goal of reducing scan times, improving measurement consistency, and streamlining reporting.
The results exceeded expectations. The system upgrade was described by clinical staff as flawless, with cardiologists reporting consistent use of AI across their workflows and minimal additional training required beyond the initial demonstration. The integration with Merge Universal Viewer as a means of launching Us2.ai was well received, and communication between The Christ Hospital, Merge, and Us2.ai throughout the process was described as responsive and transparent.
"Merge really knocked it out of the park as far as their new release, Merge Cardio 12.5, goes. This was the best product upgrade I've been involved with during my tenure at The Christ Hospital – this one was flawless. Consistent AI-powered measurements, combined with faster scans, have revolutionized how we approach echocardiography."
The deployment has delivered meaningful operational benefits including automated echocardiogram measurements, enhanced consistency and reproducibility across sonographers, improved workflow integration from imaging to reporting to the EHR, and newly empowered research and data mining capabilities backed by structured AI-generated insights.
The Christ Hospital's experience as an early adopter has also helped inform best practices for other organisations looking to integrate AI into their cardiology workflows, including guidance on exam selection, ownership roles between AI and clinical staff, and workflow navigation within Merge Cardio.
Us2.ai is available within Merge Cardio for healthcare organisations looking to bring AI-assisted echocardiographic analysis into their cardiology imaging workflows. Read the full case study on the Merge website →