IBM Snaps Up Truven for $2.6B to Boost Watson Health Analytics
IBM has just announced that they will purchase Truven Health Analytics for $2.6B in a bid to further utilize its popular Watson Health Analytics Cloud.
The acquisition of Truven marks the 4th overall healthcare analytics purchase for Big Blue, which will provide the cloud computing giant with the ability to add data into existing health record data set. Those in the know say that Watson’s Health Analytics currently searches a database of over 300 million healthcare related data points.
Analysts believe that Watson will be used to determine correlations between health care claim data and clinical data. Healthcare experts say that correlation can be considered the “The Holy Grail” of health care analytics.
The deal with Truven is expected to close by the end of 2016.
IBM claims to have invested over $4B of its own money into the Watson Health Analytics ecosystem. IBM expects the end result of its Watson Health Analytics platform to be one where physicians and patients can both save time and money treating illnesses.
“The acquisition of Truven will bolster Watson Health’s global talent footprint to more than 5,000 employees, including hundreds of clinicians, epidemiologists, statisticians, healthcare administrators, policy experts and healthcare consultants who will join the IBM business unit,” says IBMs press release on the deal.
“Truven’s cloud-based technology, methodologies and health claims data will be integrated into the Watson Health Cloud over time,” the press release adds.
Truven executives such as Mike Boswood praised the announced acquisition, saying that his team is eager to join the IBMer’s behind the Watson Health Cloud project.
“This will help catapult the industry forward to transform healthcare and to save and improve lives,” says Boswood.
IBM believes that Watson and Truven can combine their expertise to provide value based care for patients. The value based healthcare delivery model is expected to give patients quality medical care at an overall a lower cost.
