A new partnership between IBM and CVS could push pharmacists to the forefront of the connected care platform.
IBM will be using its Watson supercomputer to analyze a wide variety of health data captured at CVS' 7,600 retail stores, 1,000+ walk-in clinics and pharmacy benefit management programs that reach more than 70 million people, enabling pharmacists around the country to pinpoint health concerns and alert both providers and consumers.
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For example, Watson could pull in data from a diabetic's wearable monitor, combine that with medication adherence information and vital signs captured by CVS and alert a patient who's at risk of having a serious diabetic complication – as well as that patient's care providers – through a mobile device, e-mail or even a phone call.
“This partnership will enable us to leverage advanced technologies and key health information to develop a tool that can be applied by a variety of healthcare providers such as pharmacists, nurse practitioners at MinuteClinics or connected healthcare providers, and that can help our pharmacy benefit management clients improve member health and manage cost,” CVS Chief Medical Officer Troyen A. Brennan said in a press release.
The partnership is the latest in a series of moves to position Watson as a connected health resource. IBM last year launched a $1 billion investment in the Watson Group, which includes IBM Watson Health, and has also launched projects with The Mayo Clinic and the New York Genome Center that combine Big Data with clinical research.
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"To predict, we will apply Watson's cognitive computing to a wide range of data from electronic medical records, pharmacy records, wearables, fitness devices, home monitoring devices, consumer-oriented mobile apps, and more," IBM Chief Health Officer Kyu Rhee said in a recent blog on the company's Building a Smarter Planet site. "To personalize, we will leverage’s Watson’s extraordinary capabilities to translate scientific, evidence-based guidelines and interventions into real world practice, empowering CVS pharmacists and healthcare providers to better individualize, customize and 'nudge' patients towards their best possible health."
The IBM-CVS collaboration would target, among other things, medication adherence and medical advice. Rhee said Watson can help CVS pharmacists analyze how medications are being used by a patient, and whether they're having the intended effect, as well as identifying when patients don't follow their doctor's orders or when medications are adversely affecting the patient.
Rhee also said Watson could position the CVS pharmacist as a health resource connecting the patient and the doctor.
"People often delay care or treatment due to access issues," he said. "How often have you or a family member been in a situation where you need to wait weeks to get an appointment with your doctor? Working with CVS, we’ll leverage Watson to develop technologies and evidence-based, techniques that personalize engagement and proactively engage neighborhood CVS Minute Clinic clinicians before a bad health outcome emerges. In addition, our solutions will seamlessly integrate these engagements with the other key members of the patient’s care team, including the primary care clinician."
"This partnership will never replace the important relationship between patients and their primary care providers," Rhee concluded. "But we think technology that helps manage disease when and where it most convenient for the individual has the potential to improve health and extend lives even while reducing overall healthcare costs for society."
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