Cincinnati based TriHealth will invest $10 million dollars to adopt a portion of IBM Watson Health Enterprise Imaging Portfolio. The investment means it can modernize its picture archiving and communication system infrastructure and employ artificial intelligence and applications for medical imaging.

TriHealth plans to augment radiologists' image reading workflow by creating an architecture for the storage and management of image data that can easily scale and connect with the health system's electronic health record. The Watson Health architecture is expected provide TriHealth clinicians timely access to medical images, the better and faster to decide on the right care path.

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TriHealth will be the first health system in Ohio to adopt IBM Watson Imaging Clinical Review, a data review tool that uses cognitive computing to analyze EHR data to help support a reliable patient record, IBM executives said. The goal is to enable more accurate, timely and coordinated care decisions.

Watson Imaging Clinical Review is scheduled to go live across TriHealth in early 2019.

"Our goal is to provide our physicians with a tool that delivers data and insight that helps optimize efficiency and quality in the care they deliver to patients," said John Ward, TriHealth's chief information officer, in a statement.

TriHealth CEO Mark C. Clement noted that the collaboration with IBM Watson Health makes it possible for TriHealth to provide the most advanced technology for patients and their clinicians.

And Frank Schlueter, MD, system chief of radiology for TriHealth, said the advanced imaging technology will improve the workflow of radiology and other image-intensive specialties. In turn, he expects that will boost physicians' ability to diagnose and treat patients.

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