By Lauren Dubinsky and Gus Iversen

IBM and Siemens Healthineers may be at the top of their respective industries, but contending in a value-based care system means they each need something the other has got.

Through a recently announced five-year global partnership, Siemens has acquired a powerful data-crunching ally in its first foray into the multi-billion dollar population health management sector, while IBM — and its artificial intelligence prodigy, Watson — will enjoy a VIP point-of-entry into the vast hospital market.



Siemens will offer IBM Watson's population health management solutions to its customer base, as well as offer consulting services to help those customers transition to a value-based model of care delivery.

Going forward, the two companies will also work together to develop new population health solutions.

"We are at an unprecedented time in health care," Deborah DiSanzo, general manager for IBM Watson Health, said in a statement. "Mature and developing markets are increasingly focused on how patient outcomes are optimized, quality is standardized among individuals and across populations, and costs are reduced."

Watson Care Manager is one example of the technology that Siemens will be able to leverage. Care Manager helps providers and patients work together to support individual health by integrating disparate data and applying cognitive analysis so nurses and other care managers can closely monitor patients with chronic conditions.

Chronic diseases account for 60 percent of all deaths, according to the World Health Organization. In 2005, 63 million people had multiple chronic illnesses, and by 2020 that number is expected to jump to 81 million.

The companies will aim to help health care professionals deal with the diversity of health data, aging population, increasing prevalence of chronic diseases, changes in health care payment models, and the digitization and consumerization of health care.

"We will bring the power of Siemens Healthineers' extensive relationships with providers and our deep domain expertise in clinical workflows, services, and digital health technologies to bear to help bring population health management offerings to healthcare providers," said Matthias Platsch, head of Services at Siemens Healthineers.

"The new alliance fits perfectly into the services business of Siemens Healthineers," he added. "Thus we will enter the rapidly growing population health management market which is expected to play a significant role in end-to-end value-based healthcare."

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