IBM Watson Health and Siemens Healthineers have agreed on a five-year global partnership to provide hospitals with population health management solutions, reported Forbes.
The goal, according to the announcement by IBM Watson Tuesday, is to improve health outcomes for medical provider clients as the model in the U.S. moves toward value-based care and away from fee-for-service. Siemens, which is already linked to hospitals through its imaging business, is hoped to help the initiative.
“They have a significant amount of relationships at the hospital level and they fully understand the hospital work flow and the way tech works in the hospitals,” said Dr. Anil Jain, chief medical officer of IBM business Explorys, said of Siemens in an interview.
According to Healthcare Informatics, the partnership will help professionals in the healthcare field overcome challenges that accompany the growing diversity in and volume of health data. It will also help healthcare professionals navigate the aging global population and the move toward the consumerization of healthcare.
This new partnership is not the only one breaking into this competitive industry, however. Health insurance companies such as UnitedHealth Group and software companies like SAS are already selling population health services to employers, healthcare facilities and other clients.