IBM Watson in the Cloud Will Make Healthcare Apps Smarter

Having already announced that Watson will be utilized to help doctors with diagnosis, IBM is taking its artificially intelligent computer another step further by releasing it into the cloud. The IBM Watson Developers Cloud, which includes a developer toolkit, education materials, and access to Watson's application programming interface (API), will allow developers working in a variety of industries to create apps that will be powered by Watson's cognitive computing capabilities. Third-party apps will be available in what has been dubbed the IBM Watson Content Store and IBM says it will also make efforts to connect its cloud-based partners with experts in various fields to assist with development and marketing.

Two out of the three already-announced partners for the new program work in the medical device and healthcare space (the third, Fluid, deals in online shopping applications). MD Buyline, a provider of supply chain solutions for hospitals, is developing Hippocrates, an app that will assist hospital personnel purchasing decisions based on pricing, quality, and patient outcomes. The company says Hippocrates will teach Watson to source Big Data related to electronic medical records, financials, outcomes, quality, clinical trials, and medical journals to assist buyers in making evidence-based purchasing decisions.

Welltok, a company that focuses on using social applications to manage health, is developing a high-powered mHealth app using Watson. The company's CafeWell app will be an activity and condition tracker and management program that will provide diet and wellness plans for patients. By tracking a user's activity and questions about their health, CafeWell will suggest diets, exercises, health programs, and even check health plan eligibility.

Both companies are leveraging Watson's ability to understand and interpret human speech into their apps. Rather than the standard series of menu options or button presses, users will be able to Watson will be able to interface with Watson using everyday speech to which the computer will respond in kind. This is more sophisticated than voice recognition or the iPhone's Siri as Watson is capable of learning over time and providing confidence-weighted responses based on current evidence and prior experience. IBM says it will also give medical app developers access to Healthline, a medical reference library, to provide clinical and wellness data to further enhance an app's capabilities.

In a press statement, Michael Rhodin, senior VP of the IBM Software Solutions Group, says Watson will not only enable more powerful app development, but also more powerful collaboration among professionals and consumers. “Together with our partners we'll spark a new class of applications that will learn from experience, improve with each interaction and outcome, and assist in solving the most complex questions facing the industry and society.”

-Chris Wiltz, Associate Editor, MD+DI
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