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Steve Mills IBM Sr. VP Indicates Watson Leverages Analytics

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by Susan Eustis

Steve Mills IBM Sr. VP has indicated that IBM Watson leverages analytics. Mills describes the aim of Watson as an effort to provide a computer that can take large quantities of information ingested as data and create intelligence from all that data. It is a computer that is able to figure out what is important in a vast compilation of information.

IBM Watson has been filled with information from medical textbooks, from research, and from patient records. This information is often characterized by ambiguities. The miracle is that this cognitive computer can find meanings even though it is filled with a huge amount of information. Applying Watson to healthcare markets is being done, Watson in its current form can be used to assist a doctor in finding a diagnosis and a treatment. In healthcare, a patient defines sometimes vague symptoms and a doctor has to consult data, experience and literature to figure out the cause. Tests are ordered. It’s complex. Watson can help.

As Steve Mills describes the situation, IBM Watson’s aim is to create a diagnosis pathway. The aim is to provide a compliment to what the doctor or clinician knows, to improve the quality and cost of healthcare delivery. Watson can assemble more information than the doctor can without Watson, positing the possibility of letting the clinician achieve more accuracy.

According to Steve Mills, the value of Watson for healthcare is that it provides more information on a particular topic than the healthcare professional can absorb by reading. No clinician can read all the relevant data to achieve quick diagnosis without Watson as well as that clinician can with Watson.

Steven A. Mills is Senior Vice President and Group Executive – Software & Systems at IBM.

He said that physicians will need Watson as an assistant. Watson the cognitive computer is able to include data from Web sites, statistics, the latest research, and information from the medical textbooks to understand what is going on in any particular patient situation. Watson is able to take information from physicians, feed it into the existing systems, massage the information, iterate it, and serve as an intelligent adviser to a clinician.

According to Steve Mills, the value of Watson is that it can hone in on a diagnosis in an accurate manner, and it can accept qualifying information permitting it to look for more factors. Through iteration Watson can get better and better.

US Congress House Energy and Commerce Committee Looks at IBM Watson for Healthcare

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by Susan Eustis

IBM Watson’s computing power is accessible to authorized users through the cloud where it was on display to the US Congress House Energy and Commerce Committee. IBM had a team at Congress to show off the ability of Watson to facilitate better care and to potentially lower the costs of healthcare delivery.

The IBM Watson team has been collaborating with Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York City and health-care insurance provider Well Point. Members of the IBN team were in Washington to showcase the supercomputer’s health-care related features. The advantage provided by the supercomputer IBM Watson is that the team has been able to use the device as a cognitive computer that is able to learn medical facts. IBM has worked to teach the Watson cognitive computing computer everything there is to know in the medical world.

Watson has the ability to ingest patients’ medical information and synthesize thousands of medical journals. Watson has been able to ingest medical reference materials along with patient preferences. The computer has been trained to recommend treatment options.

IBM representatives emphasized to the attending members of Congress that Watson does not offer instructions to doctors or diagnose patients on its own, it is poised to serve as an intelligent assistant to the physician. When loaded with patient information, and combining a broad range of medical knowledge, the Watson computer is more knowledgeable about alternatives than the human, it is not able to make decisions in an intelligent manner, that is left to the physician.

The advantage of IBM Watson in this context is that it can keep up with the latest medical knowledge better than the physician can, giving the chance for more accurate diagnoses quicker. Congress was appraised of how the technology is poised to improve healthcare delivery outcomes. There is a need for government to encourage clinicians to embrace continued technological innovation in health care.

ICD-10 Premiere Training Program Includes CODESMART UNIVERSITY and IBM Watson

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by Susan Eustis

The ICD-10 premiere training program includes CODESMART UNIVERSITY. This is used to train current and future medical personnel on how to utilize the ICD-10 medical coding system. ICD-10, the tenth revision of the International Classification of Diseases is a World Health Organization-approved designation. It includes all the aspects of disease treatment that have categories of diseases and treatment modalities for them, broken down in to more than 141,000 designations.

The previous ICD had 17,000 codes, diagnoses and procedures. To go from 17,000 to 141,000 requires some effort. The Department of Health and Human Services has mandated that all medical practices, hospitals and other medical record keeping organization be trained and ICD-10 compliant by October 1, 2014. This is essential as the Center for Medicare and Medicaid services will also be adopting the ICD-10 standard and will require proper medical coding in order to provide reimbursement.

First Independence Corp. (OTCBB: FICF) with its subsidiary, The Codesmart™ Group, is the premiere national subject matter expert for ICD-10 education and compliance in the United States. Its premiere product, CODESMART™ UNIVERSITY is an on-line program of study for existing coders, new coders, clinicians, and healthcare roles of all types.

IBM Watson is the technology of care systems of engagement, permitting clinicians and patients to connect directly. The ability to establish a connected, self-managed membership will be facilitated by implementing eEffective Systems of Engagement and Utilizing IBM Watson to Achieve Remote Care management.

American Telemedicine Association Remote Care Management Using IBM Watson

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by Susan Eustis

Remote delivery of health care for chronic conditions addresses 90% of the cast of healthcare delivery in the U.S. Remote care management is an aspect of tale-medicine that has been embraced by the American Telemedicine Association. Remote care management plans improve care delivery efficiency. Medicare Advantage plans are more proactive in connecting members with care, especially those with chronic conditions. Deploying a remote care management program delivered by a clinician and facilitated by the GE Care Innovations™ Guide has been shown to vastly improve the cost of care delivery to people with chronic conditions.

The telemedicine growth curve has accelerated dramatically in the past few years. The introduction of new technologies, new applications and the introduction of wireless devices provides a newfound familiarity and acceptance of technology by the medical profession.

Telemedicine is gaining acceptance by the general populace faster than by the medical professionals because of the rapid adoption of smart phones, the Internet, and apps. As the United Nations reported earlier this year, more than 6 billion people worldwide now have access to cell phones (compared to only 4.5 billion with access to toilets), and these cell phones are all poised to turn into smart phones within 5 years.

In the year ahead, the interests of providers, health organizations, vendors, policy makers and the public all become uniquely aligned to make this a year of exponential growth for telemedicine. What is interesting and subtle is the how and why of this growth trajectory.

Big themes that will dominate telemedicine in the coming year:

Big Data and Healthcare Analytics Forum June 4-5 Washington

Telemedicine is a key enabler for health system transformation. Healthcare planners realize telemedicine must be fundamental. Telemedicine anywhere to telemedicine everywhere are key aspects of the healthcare industry. Telemedicine is delivered with hardware-based videoconferencing systems, private networks and telephone call centers.

In the last decade, advances in technology have enabled new channels for telemedicine. The Internet, tablets, smart phones, remote monitoring, wireless applications and devices – even an ICU in a band-aid or wrist watch represent new telemedicine technology. Software enables patients to connect with their providers using many different channels. Decision support and analytics supplement human interaction.

IBM Watson is poised to transform healthcare delivery. Smartphones act as endpoints, Watson is the base system. Facilities are truly capable of delivering telemedicine services anywhere.

Implementing Effective Systems of Engagement and Utilizing IBM Watson to Achieve Remote Care Management

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by Susan Eustis

Remote care management is an aspect of tale-medicine that is supported by the American Telemedicine Association (ATA). Remote delivery of health care for chronic conditions addresses 90% of the cast of healthcare delivery in the U.S. Remote care management plans improve care delivery efficiency. Medicare Advantage plans are more proactive in connecting members with care, especially those with chronic conditions. Deploying a remote care management program delivered by a clinician and facilitated by the GE Care Innovations™ Guide has been shown to:

Positively impact patients’ knowledge of their health condition
Increase awareness leading to improved self-management behaviors
Improve medication adherence
Drive appropriate utilization of resources
Improve quality of life

Bosch Health Buddy and Intel-GE Care Innovations™ are among tele-medicine approaches used to establish a connected, self-managed membership. Remote care management helps improve the overall quality of care delivery in every instance where it is administered in a manner that is supported by an approach based on integrity.

Medicare Advantage plans seek to be proactive in incenting members with chronic conditions to take responsibility for their own care improvements. Deploying a remote care management program delivered by a clinician and facilitated by Bosch Health Buddy and the Intel-GE Care Innovations™ systems has been shown to:

Positively impact patient knowledge of health condition
Increase awareness as a prelude to improving self-management behaviors
Improve medication adherence
Drive appropriate utilization of resources
Improve quality of life

If this is not done in the right way, expending the resources needed to maintain and improve member care results in higher medical expenses. Intel-GE Care Innovations™ is a system that facilitates improvement of quality in care delivery while lowering costs. Lowering cost of care delivery for chronic conditions is essential.

Managing medical utilization effectively does not work, higher administrative expenses and lower quality of care are not particularly unacceptable care delivery modalities that tend to result from attempts to directly control utilization. Member engagement in improving the health of the patients with chronic conditions depends on utilizing systems that work.

As the population grows older and less healthy, any success increasingly depends on driving behavior change among members. This can only be done through a tele-medicine strategy. The ability to facilitate efficient, proactive care away from the physician’s office or a hospital depends on implementing effective systems of engagement and utilizing IBM Watson. To meet these cost reduction objectives, MA plans need to aim to create a base of connected, self-managed members using data collected daily, analyzed, and delivered back to the member with high frequency and in the right context by really really nice people.

The ability to establish a connected, self-managed membership will be facilitated by implementing eEffective Systems of Engagement and Utilizing IBM Watson to Achieve Remote Care management.

IBM® Rational® Rhapsody® Modeling Software Best Practice Models for Variants

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by Susan Eustis

Product design for variants is achieved by IBM which is recognizing the need to design for product variation. In the IBM tradition of supporting best practice, it has developed methods to manage variants for product development. Variant management automates the process of organizing the list of features to be managed. With new product development projects, planning for future variants is not typically done at the beginning.

Eaton Corporation’s experience in developing variants of transmissions for heavy-duty hybrid vehicles gives a strong customer example of the value of the IBM technology. Various Rational software products can help isolate project aspects that need to be managed.

To manage design variants of products the points of difference are identified. Two different models of a truck, have a dozen differentiating features. As a product gets customer feedback, requests for multiple variations of the initial product start to come in. If the product variants are not developed using automated process to track and mange them effective response is difficult.

This is breakthrough technology from IBM to support maintaining and improving each product version simultaneously in an efficient and time-saving manner that prevents duplicative work. The ROI is very compelling and adoption of this product is anticipated to be strong worldwide.

Design for variants requires more work than independent products, meaning that implementation of automated process in this arena is significant. Designing for variants is an efficient practice in the long run. Determining when, why, and how to design for variants helps manage a product portfolio so that managers more tightly align products with what customers want.

Massachusetts General Hospital Referral Portal

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by Susan Eustis

Massachusetts General Hospital has implemented a referral portal From eHealth Technologies. It is a implementing a streamlined process for new patient referrals. The aim is to improve service to referring physicians. By providing referring physicians easier access to the MGH facility it is positioning to extend its market leading presence in healthcare delivery. The technology provides a clear, single process to submit referrals. The site allows the referring provider to receive key updates about patient appointments and the results.

eHealth Connect® Referral Portal provides two-way communication and streamlined collection of all required patient information. Incoming data can be interfaced directly into existing systems eliminating manual entry. The portal is customizable.

“We continuously strive to improve our service and coordination of care for our patients and referring physicians,” said Alexa Kimball, MD, Senior Vice President, Massachusetts General Physicians Organization. “Facilitating patient referrals can be further streamlined by an online mechanism that offers referring physicians a way to initiate referrals quickly and ensure they are triaged to the appropriate provider.”

This initiative represent a continuation of market leading technology adoption by Massachusetts General Hospital.

Meg Whitman Leads Hewlett Packard

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Meg Whitman Leads Hewlett Packard

by Susan Eustis

Meg Whitman has put her leadership stamp on Hewlett Packard. She firmly believes a large company like HP needs a leader. Whitman has said it needs someone who can be the face of the company. She is working hard to be personable and to make an impact on an organization that is challenged in many ways. Meg has embraced cloud computing, betting that in the cloud Hewlett Packard can find a way too bring together many of the disparate assets and resources of the company.

The HP enterprise Group provides servers, storage, networking, technology services and, when combined with HP’s Cloud Service Automation software suite, the company is able to offer an HP CloudSystem. The CloudSystem enables infrastructure, platform and software-as-a-service in private, public or hybrid environments.

Meg seeks to lead HP to continue to be a leading global provider of products, technologies, software, solutions and services. It has a broad customer base of individual consumers, small and medium-sized businesses, and large enterprises. Customers are in the government, health and education sectors. HP’s offerings span personal computing and other access devices; imaging and printing-related products and services; multi-vendor customer services, including infrastructure technology and business process outsourcing, application development and support services and consulting and integration services; enterprise information technology (“IT”) infrastructure, including enterprise storage and server technology, networking products and solutions, technology support and maintenance; and IT management software, information management solutions and security intelligence/risk management solutions.

HP is a hardware and infrastructure company. Meg Whitman has embraced cloud computing, security, and tools that help businesses better manage their data. In this regard Meg Whitman appears to be garnering a winning strategy for HP long term, leveraging the marketing spend of HP, but also of other companies including IBM that have embraced cloud computing.

Marie Wieck, IBM General Manager, at Impact 2013 Talks about Process Improvement In The Cloud

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By Susan Eustis

Marie Wieck, IBM General Manager, at Impact 2013 Talks about Process Improvement In The Cloud

Highly skilled knowledge workers are looking for process improvement in the cloud according to Marie Wieck. Business process as a service is able to permit businesses that implement modern IBM business process management systems to achieve 47% growth. Growth comes because the businesses build new systems that connect to mobile devices, and leverage connections to customer smart phones and tablets. All these devices create a lot of data, so called big data.

Big data is a part of the modernization of knowledge workers. This modernization is able to occur because of the many business process improvements implemented modularly in the cloud. The cloud supports highly skilled knowledge workers. With the appropriate tools, these knowledge workers are anticipated to have an impact on delivery of more efficient services, permitting businesses to leverage analytics in ways that have never been possible before.

Marie L Wieck is general manager for the Application and Integration Middleware business unit in IBM Software. In this role, she leads an organization of more than 7,000 software development, marketing, services, and sales professionals. She has oversight for IBM’s WebSphere software portfolio including web application servers, transaction and messaging systems, integration, and business process management solutions. Marie also plays a leadership role in key strategic initiatives for IBM, including cloud and enterprise mobile technologies.

Smarter business process software from IBM includes social flexible and dynamic building of business models. Mobile first strategies represent a revolution in how business process is delivered. No existing systems are built to implement “Systems of Engagement”, “Systems of Interaction”. Developers and managers working together are working to take business operations process into new places and extend the existing processes to make them into Systems of Interaction.

The effort is to achieve a reinvention of end-to-end process. The aim is to bring data to a place where it is able to provide more insight into how to improve services to customers. Systems enable a customer centric approach. One place we see the Systems of Interaction being implemented is in healthcare.

With new technology, doctors can access information at the point of care. Marie gave the example of how In Ottawa the teaching hospital has deployed 3,000 tablet devices. It has implemented sophisticated business process management systems (BPM) that are used to create a circle of care. The organization shifted its vision and purpose from being a teaching hospital to a hospital centered on putting the patient first and taking the best care of patients that they possibly can.

This shift in vision, though seemingly obvious, has had a dramatic impact on patient care. Making the patient the center of the care delivery system has been achieved by leveraging new technology. Physicians are able to speed up diagnoses. They are able to gain significantly more transparency into complex medical conditions, even conditions that may not appear to be complex initially. Systems are able to give teams insight into therapeutic alternatives that were not available earlier.

The banking industry is using these new Systems of Interaction to achieve account opening in 5 minutes. Reinvention of account opening, taking the process down to minutes instead of hours or days, is providing an 88% reduction in the times it takes to perform this operation. Systems of Interaction promise enormous economic growth because of the increased efficiency. Systems of Interaction are about getting people to be participating in using their technology to achieve more efficient process.

Systems of Interaction are about providing instant results for what the client needs, linking everyone to their businesses through the cloud. Systems of Interaction make personalized offers available to potential customers or to patients in a way that makes a difference.

Robert LeBlanc IBM Senior Vice President Comes on Stage with a Ford Fusion at Impact 2013

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by Susan Eustis

Robert LeBlanc IBM Senior Vice President Comes on Stage with a Ford Fusion at Impact 2013

Robert LeBlanc came on stage with a Ford Fusion, a very fancy car. He liked the car, he appeared to be very comfortable on stage talking about the car and the technology the car has. Robert talked about the Ford Fusion having 16 million lines of code. The Ford Fusion is a data center he said. He was illustrating that software is everywhere.

Robert said that the Ford Fusion car has 70 microprocessors and 1,000s of sensors. Software is able to support adaptive parallel parking assist among other features. Ford is supporting significant growth in off board connectivity as well as building out its internal data center inside the car.

Robert challenged each person in the Impact conference audience to think about how to change their businesses in the same way that Ford has done. The competitive challenge was tremendous for Ford, and Robert made the point that Ford had addressed the challenge head on and is doing great competitively.

Robert LeBlanc is Senior Vice President, Middleware Software, for IBM Software Group. He has global responsibility for the strategy and management of IBM’s industry-leading middleware portfolio. This includes Application and Integration Middleware, Information Management, Rational, Tivoli, and the newly-formed IBM Security Systems Division. Mr. LeBlanc also chairs IBM’s Technology Team, a senior executive team responsible for setting IBM’s technology agenda.

Product design features depend on software. Products have an ability to interact with end points. The impact of design is profound. Design and engineering include technology as interface software that promises to change the automobile industry. And the auto industry is the same as every other industry, software and sensors are changing designs. End points and tablets, smart phones and systems of engagement are among the core themes we hear from IBM.

This is a change; the markets are changing at an unbelievable pace. The expectation of customers is for interactions with their apps and their smart phones. With the prospect of 6 billion smart phones out there by 2018, there are lots of challenges to be met. The eco systems are being put in place to improve customer service delivery. Customer expectations are expanding. Product design and features depend on software implementation.

Ford has integrated technology into the vehicle. Technology plays a role for product modernization. Ford was able to take its voice activated platform that started out as a way to provide basic speech capability needed to place a cellphone call, or to support the ability to connect to 911. This basic functionality became a platform on which to build more advanced features.

Ford was able to take that basic voice platform and extend it to solicit vehicle help using voice activated requests. Ford implemented streaming music, voice activated navigation, and smart phone apps. IBM is to be strongly commended for “really getting it”. IBM understands apps, it understands tablets, and it understands the new paradigm systems of engagement. IBM understands customers; it understands its customers and it understands its client customer needs.

Technology is key, technology is driving this rapidly changing world that we label systems of engagement.