IBM makes $1B buy to boost Watson’s health care capabilities

Merge’s technology platforms are used at more than 7,500 U.S. healthcare sites, as well as most of the world’s leading clinical research institutes and pharmaceutical firms to manage a growing body of medical images.

“The vision is that these organizations could use the Watson Health Cloud to surface new insights from a consolidated, patient-centric view of current and historical images, electronic health records, data from wearable devices and other related medical data, in a HIPAA-enabled [electronic medical records] environment”, IBM said.

What stands out about this deal is that it ranks third in terms of IBM’s major health-related acquisitions, and it is the largest since IBM launched its Watson Health unit in April. The company is exploring the supercomputer’s applications in a range of fields, from education to banking.

Images account for around 90 percent of medical data, according to IBM research.

Kelly noted that the combination of Watson’s cognitive and analytic capabilities and the capabilities gained from Merge and IBM’s other recent major strategic acquisitions, positions IBM to partner with healthcare providers, research institutions, biomedical companies, insurers and other organizations committed to reimagining health and healthcare in the 21st century.

IBM has been expanding its health-care offerings through partnerships and smaller acquisitions.

While the health industry is an obvious priority for IBM, the company may similarly focus on other industries as well.

The big question here is whether Merge can help move the needle for IBM’s lack of growth. Applying computing resources like Watson can help technicians who otherwise must manually examine medical images. “That’s the real promise of cognitive computing and its artificial intelligence components – helping to make us healthier and to improve the quality of our lives”.

The deal, subject to regulatory approval, is expected to close later this year. Big Blue plans to incorporate the technology into its rapidly expanding its supercomputing driven, cloud based Watson Health initiative.

(MRGE) for $7.13 per share in cash, or approximately $1 billion. It has since closed on the Phytel acquisition.