Merge’s platform is used to handle and process medical images at more than 7,500 healthcare sites. The vision is that these organizations could use the Watson Health Cloud to surface new insights from a consolidated, patient-centric view of current and historical images, electronic health records, data from wearable devices and other related medical data, in a HIPAA-enabled environment.
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“Watson’s powerful cognitive and analytic capabilities, coupled with those from Merge and our other major strategic acquisitions, position IBM to partner with healthcare providers, research institutions, biomedical companies, insurers and other organizations committed to changing the very nature of health and healthcare in the 21st century”, he said. Big Blue announced that Watson will gain the ability to “see” by bringing together Watson’s advanced image analytics and cognitive capabilities with Merge’s medical imaging platform. The company is exploring the supercomputer’s applications in a range of fields, from education to banking.
Through the deal, IBM hopes to “unlock the value of medical images to help physicians make better patient care decisions”, according to an announcement. The buy also demonstrates how important Watson is to IBM and offers the possibility that other verticals may get a similar treatment from IBM.
This acquisition will be IBM’s third-biggest health-related buy. Applying computing resources like Watson can help technicians who otherwise must manually examine medical images.
“As Watson evolves, we are tackling more complex and meaningful problems by constantly evaluating bigger and more challenging data sets”, said John Kelly, Senior Vice President, IBM Research and Solutions Portfolio.
The acquisition will hold strong significance, specially for IBM’s Watson health platform, a part of IBM’s larger Watson Analytics Suite.
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Merge’s shareholders will receive $7.13 a share, a 32 percent premium to Wednesday’s closing price. Granted, the deal is still pending approval from regulators and Merge shareholders. IBM said it anticipates closing the transaction later this year. It has since closed on the Phytel acquisition.
