Millions of gigabytes of health-related data

Just last month, officials from International Business Machines (IBM) announced that they were establishing a Watson Health Cloud to provide a secure and open platform for physicians, researchers, insurers, and companies focused on health and wellness solutions. On the heels of this news were a slew of additional deals between IBM and some unlikely partners: Apple, Johnson and Johnson, and Medtronic Officials also announced IBM acquisitions of Explorys, an analytics company with access to 50 million medical records, and Phytel, a provider of integrated population health-management software. Rounding out the health-related announcement onslaught was news of a dedicated business unit – IBM Watson Health – with headquarters near Boston, Massachusetts.

This all adds up to IBM staking its claim to be the first, and main player, in a health care/IT cloud with analytics as its foundation. This makes sense. The future of health care is all about the individual. IBM research indicates that the average person is likely to generate more than 1 million gigabytes of health-related data in his or her lifetime. This massive amount of data comes from the abundance of personal fitness trackers, connected medical devices, implantables, and other sensors that gather real-time information.

IBM is planning to use Watson’s artificial intelligence (AI) to advance the quality and effectiveness of personal health care. The same Watson that beat TV game show “Jeopardy” champions Ken Jennings and Brad Rutter in 2011. The goal here is not to win at a game show but to take data that is already collected and turn it into usable insights for providing individualized care with improved outcomes at reduced costs.

Currently, all of this information resides in individual silos – similar to how my electronic health records (EHR) at each separate physician I visit are just that, separate. Without connections between this information, it is up to me to put the information together, or at least alert the different physicians about what is going on with my health. There is no large analysis of each separate file, and that is what Watson Health Cloud aims to do – take, analyze, and improve outcomes.

By receiving and analyzing data from insulin pumps and continuous glucose monitors, Medtronic will leverage the Watson Health Cloud insights platform to deliver personalized strategies to a patient. The Johnson and Johnson collaboration looks to create mobile-based intelligent coaching systems centered on pre- and post-operative care for joint replacement and spinal surgery patients.

These advancements in analysis and customization will push designers to develop medical devices that are more intelligent, which means they need to be more connected. The market for sensors will expand rapidly, and the ability to collect data and connect will not be an option, but a requirement.

I see improved health, reduction of health care costs, and a decline in fast-growing chronic conditions as positives from IBM stepping into the health care sector. Do you see this as positive, or is it just Big Brother and 1984 with 2015 technology? Drop me a line at emodic@gie.net.


– Elizabeth