Friday, February 20, 2004

Duke, IBM Launch Healthcare Partnership
By Mike Upchurch

In a groundbreaking collaboration, Duke University and IBM will team up to link genetic research data with patients’ clinical records electronically. The project could make the process of finding and enrolling suitable patients for clinical trials faster and easier.

Duke and many other hospitals and clinics now have difficulties communicating between computing networks of medical specialties, said Asif Ahmad, vice president and CIO for Duke University Health System. Research facilities may have computing systems that are installed and serviced by different providers than the rest of the hospital system.

In addition to the research benefits, having genetic research data integrated with patient records can also help physicians customize a patient’s care more closely to his or her needs and avoid mistakes.

The new system, called “Duke on Demand,” will integrate the various computing systems used by Duke Health System clinics and the clinical research programs at Duke University Medical Center with genetic research data provided by Duke investigators. Using IBM’s “on demand” networking services, the new system can then be tailored to fit the size and needs of a particular clinic or researcher.

The partnership is part of IBM’s new $250 million campaign to expand its healthcare division. A similar collaboration with the H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center at the University of South Florida is also in the works. IBM says that the University of North Carolina health system may soon sign a deal as well.

"The healthcare industry is under tremendous pressure to address patient safety, quality of care and cost issues," said Caroline Kovac, general manager of IBM Healthcare and Life Sciences

IBM is hiring new specialists in healthcare computing to work on the projects, and is also expanding its healthcare-dedicated infrastructure. These new specialists will serve as consultants on the Duke on Demand program, and data will be stored on IBM servers.

According to Ahmad, Duke physicians must now “sift through many systems” in order to find the patient data that will tell them if that patient is a good candidate for their research. Duke on Demand will bring genetic research data together with patients’ records to help match candidates with appropriate trials.

The initial focus will be on heart disease and breast cancer research. Consolidating worldwide genetic data could greatly speed research efforts in these diseases, which are thought to have substantial hereditary components.

The initial phase of the project, set to be complete in June, will involve 15-20 employees each from IBM and Duke.