Dive Brief:
- IBM Watson Health and the American Diabetes Association (ADA) announced that they are teaming up to reimagine technological ways that can address how diabetes is prevented, identified, and managed at the association's 76th Scientific Sessions.
- The ADA maintains over 66 years worth of data, and it plans on using the partnership with IBM to create a cognitive diabetes database, accessible to both clinicians and researchers.
- To help spur technological innovation, the team launched a developer challenge for apps that can incorporate IBM's cognitive computing power and the store of data provided by the ADA. They will begin accepting applications this summer and expect to announce a list of finalists by the fall.
Dive Insight:
IBM has worked on diabetes management in the past, and has even recently worked on a predictive model that can output individualized ranking of diabetes risk factors, Fortune reports.
Now, the ADA will be able to work together with IBM's technological and coding expertise to develop a store of tools that can contribute extensively to research on diabetes.
The cognitive diabetes databases the team plans to create for providers and researchers could potentially offer benefits for all stakeholders.
Doctors would be informed on the best treatment path forward for patients and identify potential risk factors based on the patient's medical background. Researchers would have access to unique insights that demonstrate formerly hidden patterns and new therapeutic targets. Finally, patients could garner applications that they can directly use for self-management.
Currently, diabetes affects 29.1 million Americans, which is nearly 10% of the nation’s total population, according to the CDC. The newly formed partnership hopes that technological growth will inspire innovative solutions and a further progress on disease management and prevention.