IBM Watson is the first commercially available system with cognitive computing capability. This has introduced a new era in computing that is allowing industries across many different sectors to analyze incredibly large volumes of data. Delivered through the cloud, Watson is able to crunch the data as well as complex queries posed in natural language and recommends evidence-based options. As a learning system, it continuously gets smarter, for lack of a better word, from each interaction.
In April 2015, the company launched IBM Watson Health and the Watson Health Cloud platform to address the healthcare industry, and now it has announced an expansion of its capabilities.
The healthcare industry generates massive amount of data, and Watson has been able to learn and gain value and knowledge from the interactions it has been having. The Health Cloud has been identifying, sharing and combining it with a dynamic and constantly growing aggregated view of clinical, research and social health data.
The new expanded capabilities are the IBM Watson Health Cloud for Life Sciences Compliance and the IBM Watson Care Manager.
"IBM is dedicated to developing market leading, industry-specific cloud offerings that meet each sectors' unique needs," said Michael Rhodin, SVP of IBM Watson Group. "This newest expansion of the IBM Watson Health Cloud makes it an even more robust and flexible platform for the life sciences and healthcare industries and explains its rapid adoption among leading organizations in these fields."
The IBM Watson Health Cloud for Life Sciences Compliance helps with the acceleration of regulated workloads to the cloud. It fast-tracks the deployment of a GxP compliant infrastructure and applications for biomedical companies as they grapple with many of the regulatory compliances that are in place to ensure the safety and effectiveness of their products. This will help companies in this sector bring new medical discoveries to market with more efficiency and speed.
The IBM Watson Care Manager allows care providers and patients to work together day to day to support individual health by bringing together Phytel's patient engagement tools, Apple HealthKit and ResearchKIt, and integrating them into the Watson Care Manager. It brings a wide range of clinical and individual data and applies cognitive analysis to draw out insights for nurses, physician’s assistant and other care managers. This lets them monitor and counsel individuals with complex, often, costly conditions.
The inefficiencies of the healthcare industry are well documented, and this has resulted in sky-rocketing costs. By using computing technology that can analyze the information patients, doctors and service providers generate, hopefully new insights can be gained that will benefit everyone.
Edited by
Dominick Sorrentino
