IBM forms medical imaging collaborative with Watson

IBM (NYSE:IBM) said today it formed the Watson Health medical imaging collaborative, which aims to bring cognitive imaging into daily practice for practitioners through a collaborative, global initiative.

Members in the collaboration will use the Watson cognitive computing system to “extract insights” from previously unstructured imaging data. IBM said it hopes the new program will help improve personal care decisions and build a body of knowledge to benefit the broader patient population.

“With the ability to draw insights from massive volumes of integrated structured and unstructured data sources, cognitive computing could transform how clinicians diagnose, treat and monitor patients. Through IBM’s medical imaging collaborative, Watson may create opportunities for clinicians to extract greater insights and value from imaging data while better managing costs,” Watson health veep Anne Le Grand said in a press release.

Foundational members for the collaboration include Agfa HealthCare, Anne Arundel Medical Center, Baptist Health South Florida, Eastern Virginia Medical School, Hologic, ifa systems AG, inoveon, Radiology Associates of South Florida, Sentara Healthcare, Sheridan Healthcare, Topcon, UC San Diego Health, University of Miami Health System, University of Vermont Health Network and vRad, a MEDNAX (NYSE: MD) company as well as Merge Healthcare, IBM said.

Initial plans for the program include training Watson, evaluating new offerings and gathering data based on real-world experiences to be shared with the medical community in an effort to reduce operational and financial inefficiencies and improving physician workflows.

“There is strong potential for systems like Watson to help to make radiologists more productive, diagnoses more accurate, decisions more sound, and costs more manageable. This is the type of collaborative initiative needed to produce the real-world evidence and examples to advance the field of medical imaging and address patient care needs across large and growing disease states,” Frost & Sullivan medical imaging and informatics analyst said in a prepared statement.

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