IBM dedicates $100M for healthcare hires, development

IBM will dedicate $100 million during the next three years to an initiative to help medical practitioners and insurance companies provide evidence-based care to patients.

As part of the initiative, IBM is collaborating with clinicians in medical institutions and hiring physicians to work alongside its researchers to develop new technologies, scientific advancements and business processes for healthcare and insurance providers.

Focus will be given but not limited to systems integration, services research, cloud computing, analytics and emerging scientific areas, such as nanomedicine and computational biology, according to the Armonk, N.Y.-based company. More than 100 researchers at IBM’s nine global research laboratories and its "collaboratories" in Melbourne, Australia and Taipei, Taiwan, are contributing to these efforts, IBM said. In addition, the company will seek new research collaboration with businesses, governments and universities.

IBM will focus research on three main areas:
  • Evidence generation, using scientific methods to utilize health data to help develop treatment methodologies and deliver them in a context-dependent and personalized way;
  • Improving service quality through simplifying the healthcare delivery process; and
  • New incentives and models to shift the healthcare system to one based on patient outcomes rather than only treatment and volume of care.

Privacy and security of patient data and compliance with current healthcare regulations will be addressed throughout the new research initiative, IBM added.

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