IBM Looks to Watson to Grow Federal Healthcare Market Sales

In January, IBM (IBM) chief executive Ginni Rometty pledged $1 billion to build out its Watson advanced artificial intelligence (AI) system from a $100 million business to a $10 billion unit in four years.

For IBM to grow its Watson business by 100 times in that short a time is no small order. In March, IBM challenged developers to build new Watson-related applications and said it plans to build an associated network of third-party cloud-focused AI partners. Late in 2013, IBM said it wanted to build a Watson app store along the lines of what Google (GOOG), Apple (AAPL) and others have done with mobile apps, a clarion call to which 1,500 entities of one sort or another have responded.

But IBM figures the $13.9 trillion federal healthcare market is prime territory for its AI technology, as it just named a new chief medical information officer for its U.S. Federal practice and added new Watson Big Data solutions for advanced clinical care.

Dr. Keith Salzman, a 20-year veteran of the health IT industry, is IBM’s new chief medical information officer for its federal government business. Giovanna Patterson, IBM Federal Healthcare Practice vice president, runs the program, heading a network of some 300 federal healthcare consultants, medical doctors and healthcare professionals.

Three new Watson federal healthcare solutions are aimed at aggregating and analyze clinical information:

• Engagement Advisor to transform interactions and experiences with patients;
• Discovery Advisor to uncover insights into diseases and innovative therapies and speed medical research; and
• Explorer to consolidate and visualize information and help users uncover and share data-driven insights more easily.

In addition, the vendor has packaged a solution bundle called Advanced Care Insights that leverages its content analytics and natural language processing to glean insight from physician notes, lab results and content in patient records. IBM also said it will allocate data management and cognitive computing researchers to work with federal customers in healt care to develop new solutions.

“IBM has a proven track record in delivering transformational, value-based healthcare solutions that can increase the quality of care and lower costs in both the public and private sector,” said Anne Altman, IBM U.S. Federal general manager. “Government leaders recognize that there is a tremendous opportunity to combine new and existing data sources with advancements in technology to find innovative ways to build a sustainable and affordable healthcare system.”