As one of my colleagues says, IBM has always been known to take on the gnarliest problems. From tabulating social security to putting a man on the moon to playing chess and Jeopardy, the resume is extensive. The current issue in my line of sight is: what do we do with the current global health situation? It doesn’t get much more gnarly than that question.
Before addressing it, let’s start with an old joke… How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time.
Instead of taking the entire problem of health head on – a discussion involving politics, GDP spend on health, cultural differences, etc. – let’s take it down a few levels from a whole elephant. Specifically, let’s look at the realm of care management. Even this phrase can take on different meaning depending on who you ask. Does that mean a care plan? Are advanced analytics involved? Are factors considered beyond the hospital setting? If you ask me these starting questions, all answers are yes.
Even before IBM’s recent endeavor with Watson Health, notable success has been made with organizations around the world to improve the care received by individuals. From US payers to European providers, read a sample of results here.
Let’s get one step closer to improving individual health with better care management.