Shortly after the IBM supercomputer named Watson beat two of the all-time winners on the game show Jeopardy, IBM announced that it would be developing Watson for a "job" in health care.
Guess what? Watson’s been hired.
IBM partnered with Nuance Communications, with the help of Columbia University and the University of Maryland, to commercialize Watson’s advanced analytics in a product that could help physicians make a diagnosis by rapidly scanning the medical literature and presenting evidence-based treatment options.
Now, IBM, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, and health insurer WellPoint have announced that Watson-based applications will be in use by WellPoint, the Maine Center for Cancer Medicine, and WestMed Medical Group in New York’s Westchester County by the end of March
Courtesy Wikimedia Commons/Clockready/GNU Free Documentation License
IBM's Watson computer
How will Watson help?
A demonstration video presents a hypothetical oncologist’s use of the Watson Cancer Diagnosis and Treatment Advisor to help manage a patient with lung cancer.
Doctors would connect with Watson through a tablet or computer. Watson would quickly compare the patient’s data and preferences (such as no hair loss from treatment) with a database compiled from tens of thousands of medical journals, guidelines, and other sources to give the oncologist a list of potential treatment options, the confidence levels associated with those treatments, and whether the treatments match the patient’s preferences.
The physician could click on any item for more information, or delete options at will. Watson would also produce a list of clinical trials that might accept this particular patient.
New information about the patient can be added by voice or by keyboard during that visit or at follow-up visits, and Watson will revise the list of options accordingly. Once the patient and physician decide on a treatment strategy, an associated application allows the physician to submit it to the patient’s insurer for approval with one click. If the chosen treatment is evidence based according to the information Watson presented, the automated program could send nearly-instant approval. The video doesn’t describe the physician’s next steps if the insurer rejects the treatment plan; that might need a video of its own.
WellPoint is using the Watson insurance application in four states and plans to sell both applications under a contract with IBM, the Associated Press reported.
Not everyone is convinced that Watson is ready for prime time, despite the gee-whiz aspect of having such formidable computing power as a physician’s sidekick.
Dr. Peter L. Elkin, professor of medicine and director of the center for biomedical informatics at Mount Sinai School of Medicine, New York, pointed out in a comment on the video that randomized trials should be conducted before physicians start spending more time with Watson and less time with their patients. Trials are needed to prove that teaming with Watson is any better than a clinician acting alone, and that Watson’s error rate is low enough that it won’t harm patients, he said.
–Sherry Boschert
On Twitter @sherryboschert