IBM’s data crunching service for the healthcare industry, Watson Health, now counts CVS Health as a partner.
The giant pharmacy chain now joins the ranks of other Watson Health partners, including Apple (AAPL), Johnson & Johnson (JNJ), and Medtronic (MDT), which are using Watson to build their own healthcare services on top of.
IBM did not disclose the financial terms of the partnership. An IBM (IBM) spokesperson wrote to Coins2Day in an email saying “IBM and CVS are going to work together to create Watson-powered solutions that will then be monetized.”
The goal of the partnership is to make Watson’s number-crunching technology available for healthcare professionals working at CVS Health, which operates roughly 7,800 drugstores. Ultimately, CVS Health wants to use Watson to analyze patient data and improve patient care.
With pharmacies having access to boatloads of healthcare data, like health records and medical claims information, IBM claims that Watson technology could help them better understand a patient’s overall health.
The partnership will also address patients with declining health “who may benefit from proactive, customized engagement programs” created by healthcare providers with the help of Watson, according to the announcement.
“CVS Health and IBM are both committed to improving health and finding ways to engage individuals in their well-being through the use of information and technology,” said CVS Health Chief Medical Officer Troyen A. Brennan in a statement.
The announcement is the latest in IBM’s plans to make its Watson data analytics technology a viable business. The company does not currently share exactly how much revenue Watson is contributing to IBM’s bottom line.
In mid-July, IBM said it would roll out Watson to the Middle East and North Africa. IBM was hoping to catch the attention of Middle Eastern healthcare organizations that might be interested in using the artificial intelligence machine in the same way the Cleveland Clinic and Mayo Clinic are doing so.
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