ARMONK, N.Y. and LAGRANGEVILLE, N.Y., March 21, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Health Quest
Systems Inc., a four-hospital health system operating in
New York's Hudson Valley and
northwest Connecticut, and IBM
Watson Health (NYSE: IBM) have entered an agreement that will
leverage the power of artificial intelligence (AI) with the goal of
increasing participation in clinical trials. Health Quest will
deploy IBM Watson for Clinical Trial Matching, a cognitive
computing system that matches patients to clinical trials for which
they may be eligible, throughout its hospitals.
IBM Watson for Clinical Trial Matching helps clinicians and
coordinators more easily and quickly identify trials and
potentially eligible patients, enabling healthcare providers and
patients to consider appropriate ones as part of a care plan. The
solution eliminates the need to manually compare enrollment
criteria with patient medical data, making it possible to
efficiently identify an individual's potential trial options and
provide access to novel cancer care treatments.
"Health Quest is committed to becoming a leader in the
application of AI and other advanced technology to improve patient
care and provider performance. Watson for Clinical Trial Matching allows us
to improve patient access to advanced clinical trials by removing
the drudgery of manually searching through charts to quickly match
patients with the best clinical trial(s) for their condition," said
Dr. Glenn Loomis, Chief Medical
Operations Officer, Health Quest.
"While clinical trials offer patients access to promising new
and emerging treatments, only 5 percent of adult patients with
cancers participate in clinical trials. As a result, 80 percent of
clinical trials fail to meet enrollment timelines and
requirements," said Kyu Rhee, Vice
President and Chief Health Officer, IBM Watson Health. "By
integrating IBM Watson for Clinical Trial Matching, Health Quest
aims to boost clinical trial enrollment and, by providing access to
new, cutting-edge treatments, the health system can play a key role
in advancing the science of oncology care."
One academic medical center found that in the 18 months
after implementation, there was on average an 84 percent increase
in enrollment to its systemic therapy clinical trials for breast
cancer (from 3.5 patients/month to 6.4 patients/month). The time to
screen an individual patient for clinical trial matches also fell
when compared with traditional manual methods.
Additionally, in a study with the Highlands Oncology Group and
Novartis , use of IBM Watson for Clinical Trial Matching
successfully cut the time to screen patients for trial eligibility
by 78 percent, reducing processing time from 1 hour and 50 minutes
to 24 minutes.
The use of IBM Watson for Clinical Trial Matching further scales
Health Quest's use of AI within its system. Health Quest uses
Watson Care Manager to identify, categorize and rank relevant
concepts from unstructured care management notes and identify gaps
in care, track individual touch points and refine its process to
improve system-wide population health. In the health system's first
year working with Watson Care Manager, Health Quest earned a 1.65
percent merit-based payment bonus from the Center for Medicare and
Medicaid Services and generated $3.7
million in new revenue by more-efficiently tracking patients
in need and prompting them to be seen for routine care. Health
Quest is investigating further AI applications in its journey to be
a leader in the use of advanced technology to improve the care of
patients and support providers.
About Health Quest
Health Quest is a family of
integrated nonprofit hospitals and healthcare professionals in the
Hudson Valley and northwest Connecticut. Health Quest combines talented
physicians, state-of-the-art technology and compassionate
caregivers dedicated to providing quality care across a variety of
service lines, including Neurosciences, Oncology, Cardiovascular,
Women/Children's and Orthopedics.
Health Quest has a network of convenient locations throughout
Columbia, Dutchess, Ulster, Orange, Putnam and northern Westchester counties in New York as well as western Connecticut, including four award-winning
hospitals —Northern Dutchess Hospital in Rhinebeck, Putnam Hospital Center in
Carmel, Sharon Hospital in
Sharon, Conn. and Vassar Brothers
Medical Center in Poughkeepsie
—plus multiple Health Quest Medical Practice primary care and
specialty locations, two Urgent Care locations and affiliates
including the Thompson House, a 100-bed skilled nursing facility on
the Northern Dutchess Hospital campus, Health Quest Home Care and
The Heart Center, a leading provider of cardiology services in the
region.
About IBM Watson Health
Watson Health is a business
unit of IBM that is dedicated to the development and implementation
of cognitive and data-driven technologies to advance health. Watson
Health technologies are tackling a wide range of the world's
biggest health care challenges, including cancer, diabetes, drug
discovery and more. Learn more.
John R.
Nelson
Director, Public and Community Affairs, Health
Quest
jnelson2@health-quest.org
Suzanne Cross
IBM
Communications
Suzanne.cross@us.ibm.com
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SOURCE IBM