IBM CEO Ginni Rometty: Cognitive era is 'a profoundly hopeful moment in time'
ORLANDO — IBM chief executive Ginni Rometty on Monday said that cognitive computing technologies could usher in a golden era for personalized and precision medicine.
“We’re in a moment when we can actually transform pieces of healthcare. It’s within our power,” Rometty said here during the HIMSS17 keynote. “This era that will play out in front of us can change the world for the better.”
Big Blue also announced value-based care solutions, new Watson Health consulting services, and an agreement with Atrius Health to integrate cognitive capabilities into EHRs to deliver insights clinicians can use when treating patients at the point of care.
Rometty pointed to work already underway at Memorial Sloan Kettering and Cleveland Clinic to advance cognitive computing, though she did not name former partner MD Anderson, after a report surfaced yesterday in Forbes that the cancer center put its Watson oncology work on hold and, instead, will go out to the marketplace for competitive bids.
While Rometty did not mention MD Anderson directly she said that there is a gold rush around AI right now and that means healthcare executives and IT professionals are going to face three key platform decisions in the immediate future. Those include choosing cloud, data architecture and artificial intelligence platforms.
Rometty also likened the state of cognitive technologies and precision medicine efforts to the early days of distributed computing.
Many different organizations and vendors were taking different approaches to solving the same problem. But when they came together under the influence of the WC3 (World Wide Web Consortium) and other standards bodies the specifications to enable the internet emerged to essentially bring interoperability to much of that early work.
She added that the areas in healthcare ripe to benefit from that are new medications and treatments, precision medicine and personalized care.
“This is out there, it is moving, and it’s hitting tipping points,” Rometty said. “This will be our next moonshot.”
HIMSS17 runs from Feb. 19-23, 2017 at the Orange County Convention Center.
This article is part of our ongoing coverage of HIMSS17. Visit Destination HIMSS17 for previews, reporting live from the show floor and after the conference.
