A potpourri of current articles. Hope you don’t feel like Pepper the Robot after you read them! AI won’t boost cybersecurity, that’s cutting corners (Cybernews) AI tools that make cybersecurity more effective and faster in response are increasingly available. They are estimated in a Techopedia article rounding up multiple studies to be a global market of over $133 billion by 2030. IBM claims that organizations with AI cybersecurity took 100 days less to identify and contain data breaches. Yet AI can also leave organizations more vulnerable to cyberattack. Hackers and ransomwareistes have been using AI for years in phishing and... Continue Reading
Search Results for IBM Watson
News roundup: CVS sells bswift; Babylon puts Meritage IPA up for sale, financially realigning to prevent delisting; Redesign Health sheds 20%, Noom 10%
Companies shedding ancillary businesses, and more than a few of their people that make them go. CVS Health is selling bswift to Francisco Partners. Bswift, a benefits technology and HR services company, was acquired by Aetna in 2014 for $400 million. It became part of CVS Health in 2018 after CVS acquired Aetna. Based on the website, it was operated independently. Francisco Partners, an investment group specializing in tech, recently acquired IBM Watson (now Merative) [TTA 7 July] and added it to 400-odd portfolio companies. Acquisition cost and management transitions were not disclosed, but expected to close by Q4 this... Continue Reading
Mid-week roundup: UnitedHealth-Change trial kicks off; Amazon’s One Medical buy questioned; Cionic’s neural sleeve designed by Yves Behar; Medable-Withings partner; Orion Health’s new CEO; IBM Watson Health’s Simon Hawken passes
...Fisher & Paykel, a NZ-based medical device company. Mr. Porter is Mr. McCrae’s son in law. Orion recently won what could be the largest health information exchange system in the world for Saudi Arabia, covering 32 million people. Healthcare IT News And a sad passing: Our UK and European Readers likely know Simon Hawken from his long career with IBM, including Watson Health (now Merative) and Merge Healthcare, and earlier with BEA Systems. HISTalk reported that he passed away on 25 July. This Editor has not been able to find other notices, so is asking for Reader help and comments.... Continue Reading
Thursday news roundup: IBM Watson Health sale closed, now Merative; OneMedical inviting buyers–maybe; worst healthcare data breaches rounded up
It’s a post-Independence Day and early summer holiday relatively quiet week…. It’s Merative, not IBM Watson Health anymore. Francisco Partners‘ buy from IBM of Watson Health closed last Thursday (30 June) but didn’t make the news until after the holiday. The announcement of the new brand, Merative, was splashed on HLTH’s website today (not HIMSS) with the usual language about how their data connects and transforms health through pioneering “cloud, real-world data and industry-leading AI” through health systems, hospitals, health plans, life sciences, and government. Speaking of data points: HQ now in Ann Arbor, MI New CEO Gerry McCarthy from... Continue Reading
Oracle’s Big Healthcare Transformation: it’s all about ‘better information’ (sigh) (updated)
“Better information is the key to transforming healthcare,” he [Larry Ellison] said. “Better information will allow doctors to deliver better patient outcomes. Better information will allow public health officials to develop much better public health policy and it will fundamentally lower healthcare costs overall.” Larry Ellison’s Big Vision, now that Oracle’s acquired Cerner, has a distinct and familiar ring. ‘Better information’ was also the mantra of IBM Watson Health. It’s the meme of every healthcare company, from education to data analytics, that better and more accessible information means better outcomes and lower cost of care. For those of us who’ve... Continue Reading
Who needs Watson Health? 10 startups using AI (for real) in medical diagnostics, clinical decision making, and more
Our Readers over the years (since 2012!) have been tracking the rise–and fall–of IBM Watson Health. Now sold to Francisco Health [TTA 22 Jan], multiple companies have taken up chunks of their all-too-unwieldy mission, from oncology analytics and diagnostics to clinical decision making, and managing (and, in one case, reversing) chronic conditions. MM+M (Medical Marketing and Media) profiled ten companies–5 in diagnosis and 5 in treatment–in two articles. The first five are closer to the original Watson than the second group. Heartflow–diagnosis of coronary artery disease PathAI–machine learning for pathology in bladder and skin cancer detection Paige.AI–AI and pathology in... Continue Reading
DOJ to block UnitedHealth-Change Healthcare buy: report
...Change integrated into OptumInsight would reduce competition and increase pricing in RCM, claims clearinghouse and payment accuracy services, and clinical decision support services. In DC, the view of what is anti-competitive is cyclical. The 2020 acquisition of WellCare by Centene was approved with nary a whinny. CVS-Aetna took forever because of a showboating judge, but was finally approved in 2019. Yet only two years before, the Aetna-Humana and Anthem-Cigna mergers were doomed to fail. In this administration, large mergers do not fare well; both Aon-Willis Towers Watson and Lockheed-Aerojet Rocketdyne were canceled. Expect to hear more by end of month.... Continue Reading
Sold! IBM Watson Health to Francisco Partners
Another non-surprise, since we knew early in January [TTA 7 Jan] that Watson Health was on the exit side of the IBM ledger. Francisco Partners, a private equity company, is picking up the healthcare and data analytics assets of Watson Health. These include, according to the joint release, “extensive and diverse data sets and products, including Health Insights, MarketScan, Clinical Development, Social Program Management, Micromedex, and imaging software offerings.” The company will be standalone and the current executive team will continue to serve their clients in the life sciences, provider, imaging, payer and employer, and government health and human services... Continue Reading
Short takes: 2022’s big kickoff with Babylon-Higi, Vera-Castlight buys; will funding slow down in ’22, eye-tracking telehealth for MS, vital signs tracking lightbulbs at CES 2022, and three catchups!
...at the helm) this year and significant board changes. Magellan’s former COO and president Jim Murray will become Centene’s chief transformation officer, a new position, lead what they term the Value Creation Office as well as the Centene Advanced Behavioral Health division. Forbes, Centene release And suitors with a spare billion or so may be lining up to buy IBM Watson Health. The first offers came in on 4 January with the winner to be announced possibly by end of the month. IBM spent over $4 billion over time to build up Watson Health, but now wants out, badly. Axios... Continue Reading
(Breaking) Sold! Cerner to Oracle for $28.3 billion. And is Epic next?
...it broke Cerner out of a corner that they were painted into with EHRs. At the end of the day, will there be a Cerner? And what about Epic? A more complex picture, as Epic Systems is wholly private, on a roll, and dominated by Judy Feinberg, the founder and CEO. However, she is 78, and both personal and corporate considerations on future planning must loom large. What would Epic be worth to an acquirer? And who would it be? Amazon? IBM? (a terrible fit after the Watson Health debacle), Salesforce? Microsoft? Hmmmmm…. CNBC, TechCrunch, HealthcareITNews Our earlier coverage here.... Continue Reading
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