IBM worked with US private hospitals and health agencies to produce the software, which comes as a result of the 2002 anthrax attacks in the US.
It will aim to help healthcare organizations access electronic networks that provide alerts to unusual medical patterns or crises, and will then enable them to identify the origins and research possible solutions. The software, known as Healthcare Collaborative Network (HCN), will also allow caregivers and government agencies to share medical methodologies that improve patient care, and monitor long-term health problems or unusual drug interactions.
HCN was validated by the medical communities managed by New York Presbyterian Hospital, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, and Wishard Memorial Hospital, and also the Food & Drug Administration and Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.
IBM also revealed that the government of Canada has purchased the solution to conduct a pilot on an early warning and response system for biological threats. HCN will deliver data in real-time to the Public Health Agency of Canada’s Canadian Network for Public Health Intelligence for analysis. The goal is to limit the public’s exposure to disease and to facilitate a response readiness network for front-line health authorities.
James Rinaldi, chief information officer for the FDA, was reported as saying that HCN can also be used to correlate confidential actions such as prescriptions between doctors, pharmacies and hospitals, as Dr Herbert Pardes, New York-Presbyterian, explains: With all the sophisticated technology found in a modern hospital, the lack of coordination among hospital systems internally and with monitoring agencies seems almost primitive. A seamless, integrated network of information could do as much to protect patient safety and improve patient care as many other medical breakthroughs.
It has been reported that IBM will provide the software to medical organizations through its business consulting arm.
