Daily Management Review

Health Care Meets technology: CVS & IBM Join Hands to Provide Better Helath Care


07/30/2015




Using advanced technology, CVS Health and IBM came together to create a combined force to improve health care management services to patients with chronic diseases
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Both the companies jointly made the announcement on Thursday.

The practitioners and pharmacists of the health care company CVS Health would be aided by the the technology behind IBM’s Watson computing systems as the software giant and the health care come together. 

The IBM’s technology has the ability to analyze large amounts of data, interpret and evaluate information and build knowledge over time. This technology would help provide guidance and help to the CVS Health employees provide guidance to patients and work with primary care doctors by accessing health records, pharmacy information and other resources of the CVS Health data base.

CVS Health believes that the use of the new technology of IBM would enable the health care company employees to access more research and information than the organization can do now.

“This is going to be a new tool for disease prevention,” said Troyen Brennan, chief medical officer for CVS Health.

The company said that patients with chronic diseases, including hypertension, heart disease, diabetes and obesity would be benefited by the joint efforts as the focus of the initiative is to serve the chronic patients.

The IBM Watson Health, an IBM business unit, would better allow doctors, researchers and practitioners to use the data and technology collected by the computing system to provide better health care.

“The ultimate goal is the improvement in the outcomes, reduction of costs and an overall better experience for patients at the end of the day,” said Shahram Ebadollahi, vice president, innovation and chief science officer at IBM Watson Health.

To enhance the possible medical service that can be provided, the joint effort would also make use of IBM Watson Health Cloud. This cloud computing system gathers information on nutrition, medical history and lifestyle, among other factors, to present a personalized look at health of patients and help in proper diagnosis and better management of chronic diseases.

Apple, Johnson & Johnson and Medtronic are the existing partners of IBM who uses this data and computing system.

CVC health is present in a number of health care spheres that include CVS brands like its pharmacy, MinuteClinic, Caremark and speciality programs.

In a similar tie up between the two companies, a $1.5 million grant program was initiated between CVS Caremark and IBM in July 2014. The aim then was to supports the use of technology in health centers.
The new technology would be used at CVS at the beginning of 2016.

“Manning these two companies together, and doing it at a scale only these companies can do, will greatly affect the long term —and short term — for patients and do many of them good,” Ebadollahi said.

(Source: www.usatoday.com)