IBM Watson Health computes into diabetes management, UK care budgeting (US/UK)

[grow_thumb image=”https://telecareaware.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/SugarIQ2-712.jpg” thumb_width=”250″ /]IBM Watson Health, the advanced cognitive computing division of IBM, with Medtronic has developed an app that may, when marketed after FDA approval, help to ease for diabetes patients their daily ‘Battle of Stalingrad’. Sugar.IQ is an app that finds patterns in diabetes data through combining Watson’s cognitive computing capabilities with diabetes data from Medtronic and other sources. The app then uses continuous glucose monitoring data from Medtronic insulin pumps and glucose sensors to give specific, personalized information to the patient on their health trends and how to better manage their diabetes. The analytic features are impressive. Glycemic Assist lets the patient ask the app to follow specific food or therapy-related actions and events to see their exact impact. The Food Logging feature can track specific foods in a diary to determine the effects of specific foods. It is being tested presently on 100 MiniMed Connect users. Previewed at last week’s Health 2.0 conference. HealthcareITNews (photo), Medtronic blog post, Medtronic release (PDF) (This MiniMed Connect is not to be confused with the Medtronic MiniMed 670G artificial pancreas–hybrid closed-loop insulin delivery system for type 1 diabetes patients–just approved by FDA. MedCityNews)

In the UK, Harrow Council in northwest London is using IBM Watson Health’s Care Manager for social care service matching and budgeting. Using “cognitive technologies that provide personalised insight and evidence based guidelines”, Watson will match individuals’ needs and budgets to providers, and will be further able to manage costs over the ten-year agreement by “control(ling) the contract and payments between the individual commissioning for support, and social care providers competing to supply the service.” It’s not entirely clear to this Editor how the individual flexibility of care and services works with the recipient, however. The IBM Watson Health announcement follows on last May’s announcement with Alder Hey Children’s NHS Foundation Trust and the Hartee Centre to transform Alder Hey into the UK’s first “cognitive hospital”. DigitalHealth.net  Hat tip to reader Paul Costello of Viterion Digital Health