Watson is an artificial intelligence computer system, developed by IBM, that uses natural language techniques to process and answer questions. Watson was named after IBM's first president, Thomas J. Watson. According to IBM, Watson technology can process about 200 million pages of content in less than three seconds. Watson competed in a Man vs. Machine competition involving a 55 match series against Tournament of Champions-level contestants, the first round was broadcast February 14, 2011. Notably Watson beat Ken Jennings a Jeopardy champion who once had a 74-game winning streak.
This is Healthcare.
On a side note, I would have prefered if the Watson's national television debut on Jeopardy was embodied by something like Topio 3.0 or better yet, rather than a computer screen avatar.
More information about IBM's Watson can be found at www-03.ibm.com/innovation/us/watson
On September 12, 2011 WellPoint, Inc. and IBM announced an agreement to create the first commercial applications of the IBM Watson technology. According to a press release by Wellpoint depending on the progress of the development efforts, the organization anticipates employing Watson technology in early 2012, working with select physician groups in clinical pilots. WellPoint will be deploying the Watson technology to help doctors in its network deliver a more accurate diagnosis, and evidence-based treatments to patients. WellPoint also hopes the technology will help improve the quality of patient care and help reduce costs.
"At least 44,000 people, and perhaps as many as 98,000 people, die in hospitals each year as a result of medical errors that could have been prevented" -To Err is Human - Building a Safer Health System.
It will be interesting to see the business implications of Watson, the application of underlying systems, data management and analytics technology in business and within different industries. In particular for Canadian Healthcare professionals it might be interesting to see how Watson's technology deployed by Wellpoint comes inline with Ontario's eHealth strategy which is said to be completed by 2015.
WellPoint works to simplify the connection between Health, Care and Value. We help to improve the health of our members and our communities, and provide greater value to our customers and shareholders. WellPoint is the nation's largest health benefits company in terms of medical membership, with 34 million members in its affiliated health plans, and a total of more than 70 million individuals served through its subsidiaries. As an independent licensee of the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association, WellPoint serves members as the Blue Cross licensee for California; the Blue Cross and Blue Shield licensee for Colorado, Connecticut, Georgia, Indiana, Kentucky, Maine, Missouri (excluding 30 counties in the Kansas City area), Nevada, New Hampshire, New York (as the Blue Cross Blue Shield licensee in 10 New York City metropolitan and surrounding counties and as the Blue Cross or Blue Cross Blue Shield licensee in selected upstate counties only), Ohio, Virginia (excluding the Northern Virginia suburbs of Washington, D.C.), and Wisconsin. In a majority of these service areas, WellPoint does business as Anthem Blue Cross, Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield, Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Georgia, Empire Blue Cross Blue Shield, or Empire Blue Cross (in the New York service areas). WellPoint also serves customers throughout the US as UniCare.
www.wellpoint.com
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