Bernie Monegain

Watson, IBM's supercomputing brainchild, will soon have its own pied-à-terre across the pond. Big Blue announced Thursday it would launch its first Watson Health European Center of Excellence in Milan near the Human Technopole Italy 2040 research campus. Watson will become part of Italy's initiative to establish an international hub for the advancement of genomics, big data, aging, and nutrition, officials said. IBM plans to invest up to $150 million over the next several years in the project that will bring together Watson Health data scientists, engineers, researchers and designers to develop new data-driven healthcare applications and solutions. IBM data scientists, engineers and programmers will collaborate with organizations across Europe to create a new class of cloud-based connected solutions to help speed research of new treatments, personalized medicine, and discoveries to boost public health management while advancing sustainable health systems. Watson, of course, is all about data. Just this past February, IBM Watson announced it would buy data giant Truven Health for $2.6 billion, adding a huge repository of health data to the Watson Health Cloud. [Also: IBM Watson buying Truven Health Analytics for $2.6 billion] "Italy is important to IBM not only because of the creativity, skills and talent of the country's workforce, but also because of the government's efforts to digitize Italy's economy," said Erich Clementi, senior vice president, IBM Europe, in a news release. "This new era in health will not be achieved through solitary efforts," added Deborah DiSanzo, general manager for IBM Watson Health. "It will require the work of countless experts together in an ecosystem where ideas are easily shared to improve and save lives around the world." The Watson Health European Center of Excellence builds on IBM's recent investments in Italy and across Europe, including a new IBM Cloud data center in Milan, and the opening of the Watson IoT Global Headquarters in Munich, Germany. IBM has been operating in Italy since 1927, with multiple business divisions in various technology sectors, from energy to transport and healthcare. IBM Italy headquarters are in Segrate, R&D Software center and its Fondazione IBM Italia in Rome. Twitter: @Bernie_HITN Email the writer: bernie.monegain@himssmedia.com Like Healthcare IT News on Facebook and LinkedIn

Looking into its crystal ball – or perhaps digital spreadsheets – PiperJaffray analysts see big plays in the RCM market. That potential is so large, in fact, that Cerner alone has a $40 billion opportunity, and it ranks fifth in market share.

The law firm posted a new report that includes its 7-point plan to tighten security, avoid breaches, and respond when data gets compromised.

UH CMIO Jeffrey Sunshine said that deploying an interoperability tool and new modules will help the hospital to create a single patient record physicians can access at the point of care.

The work will help determine how effective Philips IntelliSite whole slide imaging can be in detecting disease, streamlining pathology workflows and lowering costs. 

Researchers will use the software to crowdsource data that helps physicians better understand how to use fever as a tool to improve medical diagnoses.  

Caleb Anderson says changing payment models are likely to make hospital executives rethink revenue cycles, and consider outsourcing services to Cerner or one of its competitors, including athenahealth, eClinicalWorks, NextGen, Conifer and others.

The FBI is reportedly investigating the latest in series of healthcare cyberattacks but there’s no definitive word yet on whether the malicious code is ransomware or not.

The PC maker also signed an agreement to enable the Dubai Health Authority to make an insurance program work with new EHR.

NTT Data announced today it has agreed to buy computer giant Dell's IT service operations for $3.05 billion. The Japan-based NTT provides software and systems, including EHRs, surgery management, billing and insurance claims technologies. Analysts note the NTT acquisition of the Dell unit comes at a time when the global technology services firm NTT is working to broaden its traction in North America. [Also: 'Innovation means accepting risk,' Michael Dell says.] To that end, NTT is expected to add about 28,000 Dell employees with the purchase, mainly from North America and India, bringing its total global workforce to more than 100,000. The move will reportedly enable Dell to pay down some of the $43 billion debt it is taking on to fund its pending $67 billion cash-and-stock acquisition of data storage provider EMC Corp. Twitter: @Bernie_HITN Email the writer: bernie.monegain@himssmedia.com Like Healthcare IT News on Facebook and LinkedIn