IBM and Siemens have launched a global alliance to support efforts by health providers to treat patients with complex and chronic illnesses such as heart diseases and cancer.
The alliance seeks to assist hospitals, health systems, integrated delivery networks and other providers in value-based patient care through the Population Health Management platforms, IBM said Tuesday.
Siemen’s Healthineers subsidiary will offer PHM services through IBM’s Watson Health cognitive computing system with the goal to address the requirements of healthcare analytics and reporting and patient engagement systems.
The companies will work to develop new PHM offerings by leveraging on their services and technologies as part of the alliance.
Siemens will also provide consulting services to healthcare providers during their transition to value-based care in an effort to help healthcare professionals adapt to health data shifts, aging global population, increases in chronic diseases, changes in healthcare payment models and the digitization and consumerization of healthcare.
PHM is designed to unify siloed systems, stratify comorbidities, encourage patient engagement and standardize network, practice and patient levels, said Koustav Chatterjee, a Frost & Sullivan transformational health industry analyst.
“Mature and developing markets are increasingly focused on how patient outcomes are optimized, quality is standardized among individuals and across populations, and costs are reduced,” said Deborah DiSanzo, general manager for IBM Watson Health.
Siemens will utilize its relationship and experience in clinical workflows, services and digital health technologies to help provide healthcare providers with PHM services, said Matthias Platsch, head of services at Siemens Healthineers.
IBM Watson Care is a cognitive system that works to connect providers and patients to support their individual health.