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IBM Drops $1 Billion On Medical Images For Watson
An anonymous reader writes: IBM is purchasing a company called Merge Healthcare for $1 billion. The company specializes in medical imaging software, and it will be a key new resource for IBM's Watson AI. Big blue's researchers estimate that 90% of all medical data is contained within images. Having a trove of them and the software to mine that data should help Watson learn how to make more accurate diagnoses. IBM thinks it'll also provide better context for run-of-the-mill medical imaging. "[A] radiologist might examine thousands of patient images a day, but only looking for abnormalities on the images themselves rather than also taking into account a person's medical history, treatments and drug regimens." They can program Watson to do both. The AI is already landing contracts to assist with medical issues: "Last week, IBM announced a partnership with CVS Health, the large pharmacy chain, to develop data-driven services to help people with chronic ailments like diabetes and heart disease better manage their health."
Actually you wouldn't. Medicare pays radiologists $6 to read a single view chest x-ray (if there is also a lateral view I think it's $8). That's before billing costs. So the radiologist ends up with about $5. So you could have 50 random people give their opinion for 10 cents each for what a radiologist gets. Would they have to have malpractice insurance? If a radiologist misses a subtle abnormality they can be (and sometimes are) sued for millions of dollars.
This isn't internet misinformation-- you can look it up on the database that came out around a year ago, where you can look up how much any physician that accepts Medicare (most of us) was paid, in total (by Medicare), and for each procedure. Just plug in the name of any radiologist you can find on the internet.
http://graphics.wsj.com/medicare-billing/?mod=medicareHP
http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2014/04/09/health/medicare-doctor-database.html?_r=0
Private insurance sometimes pays a little more, sometimes less-- depends on the location (if there are a couple of dominant insurance carriers and lots of small physician groups, they probably make less than medicare from private insurance; in the opposite situation, more. But not that much more). Medicaid almost always pays less than Medicare.