IBM has invested an undisclosed amount on Modernizing Medicine, a provider of cloud-based, specialty-specific electronic medical records to speed up adoption of its Watson technology in healthcare.
IBM has not disclosed how much it has invested on the firm, but said that the investment was apart of the $20m Series D funding secured by Modernizing Medicine, raising its overall funding to $49m.
The investment has been made through IBM’s $100m seed fund to boost Watson innovations.
Modernizing Medicine has developed the Electronic Medical Assistant system, which is a specialty-specific EMR system to provide specialty-specific billing, revenue and inventory management solutions.
Modernizing Medicine will use the funding from IBM and others to speed up expansion of the solution to eight more specialties.
The company is planning to further develop its schEMA mobile app which will be powered by Watson supercomputer’s cognitive technology.
Leveraging the cognitive computing technology, schEMA mobile app will analyse massive amounts of published, peer-reviewed medical data and healthcare research to help physicians practice enhanced evidence-based medicine.
IBM Watson vice president Stephen Gold said, "Modernizing Medicine is a great example of the breakthrough innovation we have seen from our partners who are building a new class of cognitive computing solutions powered by Watson.
"IBM’s investment will help speed the introduction of their schEMA app and demonstrates how Watson can be used by medical professionals to improve how they practice evidence-based medicine."
The app will be initially available in dermatology and later will be expanded to other specialties.
The app will allow dermatologists to ask questions in natural language about possible symptoms and treatments, and get evidence based responses within seconds right in the patient exam room.
It will quickly search through query and identify relevant information contained in thousands of medical journals, research studies and other documents, the company said.
IBM Watson vice president Stephen Gold said, "IBM’s investment will help speed the introduction of their schEMA app and demonstrates how Watson can be used by medical professionals to improve how they practice evidence-based medicine."
Modernizing Medicine co-founder and CEO Daniel Cane said, "Today’s announcement is an exciting milestone in our journey to deliver specialty-specific solutions to healthcare providers, including an entirely new class of cognitive-infused patient care apps powered by Watson."
