Issue link: https://beckershealthcare.uberflip.com/i/1405817
49 CIO / HEALTH IT What happened to IBM's Watson healthcare push? And what does the future hold? By Jackie Drees M ore than a decade ago, IBM's Watson super- computer was at the forefront of artificial in- telligence and cloud computing innovation, but now the company's hold appears to be dimming in industries like healthcare, according to a July 16 report published in e New York Times. Eight details: 1. IBM has 40,000 Watson customers across 20 indus- tries worldwide, with some of its biggest clients being in health, such as insurer Anthem, according to the report. 2. e company invested billions in healthcare, spinning out its Watson Health business in 2015. IBM Watson Health has spent more than $4 billion to acquire com- panies with medical data, billing records and diagnostic images on hundreds of patients. 3. IBM Watson Health, which offers AI tools for hospi- tals and other healthcare organizations to manage their data, has about $1 billion in annual revenue and isn't profitable, e Wall Street Journal reported in February. 4. About a decade ago, IBM's former CEO Ginni Rometty described the company's investments in healthcare as its "moon shot," but the business has en- countered challenges. 5. IBM started its healthcare push with cancer in- novation and partnered with medical centers for re- search projects. The company teamed up with Hous- ton-based MD Anderson Cancer Center on a project dubbed Oncology Expert Advisor but abandoned the initiative in 2016. 6. e project aimed to create a bedside diagnostic tool that would read patients' EHRs and cancer-related sci- entific literature to make treatment recommendations, but the organizations encountered data access problems, and Watson struggled with deciphering physicians' notes and patient histories, according to the report. 7. MD Anderson ended up shutting down the proj- ect aer four years and spending $62 million because of physicians' frustrations with the technology, the publication reported. 8. IBM is now considering scaling back its Watson Health business, with future options including selling off the healthcare unit, according to the Journal. n Louisiana hospital inks affiliation to avoid $200M Epic EHR price tag By Jackie Drees W oman's Hospital in Baton Rouge, La., entered con- tract negotiations with LCMC Health to join the New Orleans-based system's Epic EHR platform, according to an Aug. 3 Greater Baton Rouge Business Report. Woman's Hospital began looking for a partner in June that would share its Epic EHR system so the 165-bed hospital wouldn't have to buy access on its own; the hospital estimated that a solo imple- mentation would cost it $200 million over the next seven years. LCMC Health was selected among several Louisiana health- care systems that responded to Woman's Hospital's information request. LCMC owns Children's Hospital New Orleans, East Jefferson General Hospital, West Jefferson Medical Center, New Orleans East Hospital and University Medical Center, according to the report. Woman's Hospital estimated that contract negotiations with LCMC will take 12-18 months, and it is unclear how much it will take the hospital to hook up to LCMC's Epic system. "We are not selling the hospital. We remain independent and our brand remains unchanged. Both organizations will maintain separate support and administrative functions," Woman's Hos- pital CEO Barbara Griffith, MD, who will step down from the sys- tem in September, said in an email to hospital staff, according to the report. "But these advancements will give our staff more connectivity to patients and other physicians, allowing us to make faster and more informed decisions." n Teladoc integrates hospital telehealth platform with Microsoft Teams By Jackie Drees H ospitals and health systems that use Teladoc Health's telehealth platform will now have a direct connection to Microsoft Teams, the two companies said July 14. Teladoc is combining its virtual care delivery platform for hos- pitals and health systems with Microsoft Teams, which will let users conduct telehealth visits without having to leave the Teams environment. In April, Microsoft released the first update for its Microsoft Cloud for Healthcare, which included a new Microsoft Teams and Epic EHR integration. n