It seems to me that IBM has been trying forever to engage its supercomputer Watson in some meaningful activity in healthcare. The latest initiative is the purchase of Merge Healthcare by IBM with the goal of integrating the power of Watson with the Merge radiology software (see: IBM Promises To Read Your X-Rays With $1 Billion Deal. Can It Really Do That?). Below is an excerpt from the article:
IBM continued its big push to use its Watson artificial intelligence technology to revolutionize medicine by buying Merge Healthcare, a $227 million (sales) company that helps doctors and hospitals store and analyze CAT scans, X-rays, and other medical images. The goal, literally, is for Watson to be able to see and analyze those scans, along with written medical records....What...[Watson previously] lacked was the access to clients, and the images. What Merge brings...[to IBM] is that access and that capacity....The deal is the latest in a series of big moves by IBM to make real Watson’s promise in healthcare....Will it be able to prove that patients whose records are analyzed using Watson are more likely to get a correct diagnosis? That health problems that are missed by conventional radiologists will be found by IBM’s computers? Healthcare is different. Vaporware doesn’t sell.vRight now, as with so much about Watson in healthcare, we have enticing questions, few answers, and lots of confidence from IBM...[An IBM spokesperson] swears that, where necessary, he will get approval from the Food and Drug Administration, and that he will prove the usefulness of Watson’s software solutions disease by disease until doctors, hospitals, and insurers are all convinced.
The Merge CADStream product is currently used to provide workflow support, interpretation, and reporting of breast, prostate, and liver MRI studies. The CAD in the name of the product refers to "computer aided detection." Algorithm-driven computer analysis of digital breast imaging studies is well accepted and used to highlight potentially pathologic lesions in an image that may have been overlooked. The case is then marked for re-review by the radiologist. This is sometimes referred to as a spell-checker for radiologists. The Watson capabilities could potentially be integrated with the CADstream platform to provide even more sophisticated interpretive services than are currently provided. Here's some additional information about the IBM purchase of Merge (see: IBM buys Merge for $1 billion, gives Watson medical imaging heft):
IBM is hoping to take Watson's image analytics and combine them with Merge's medical management platform. The company could combine Watson's cloud applications to give electronic health records more intelligence....With images added to Watson, the system should be able to see more patterns and help radiologists interpret results. IBM wants to cross reference medical images with lab results, genetic testing and other data.
So, in addition to providing enhanced interpretive capabilities to the Merge CADstream product, IBM also hopes to integrate image reporting with patients' entire health record including, I would assume, previous pathology and radiology reports. This would provide the capability of determining whether previous suspicious lesions noted in pathology and radiology reports have been followed-up or whether a patient is a candidate for future screening studies. This is a tall order so stay tuned for reports about the success of this venture.
I keep turning to being the devil's advocate and ask what is Citibank doing with their install of IBMWatson..nobody will talk about what they do by comparison, so are they using cognitive technologies to determine which consumers won't notice a few extra fees? I actually did pose that question to a few quants and they too hadn't thought about that side but a question worth asking in view of all their recent fines:)
Posted by: MedicalQuack | August 18, 2015 at 10:34 AM