Dr. Watson: How IBM’s supercomputer could improve health care

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Watson could someday be a standard diagnostic tool. Its ability to make sense of a universe of data would be far beyond that of any person or team of experienced physicians.

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Watson could also dramatically change the way medical services are delivered. Once a machine with diagnostic expertise, no need for sleep and a proven track record can provide quality care, will it really be necessary for a physician to see every patient? We might want to create a new category of medical professional: people trained to examine patients and convey their symptoms to a system such as Watson. These lower-paid practitioners could help manage the growing number of patients with chronic conditions such as obesity and diabetes, practicing medicine without going to medical school.

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WASHINGTON -- President Obama wants to extract $320 billion in savings from the health care system in his push to trim the deficit, starting with cutting payments to Medicare and Medicaid providers and ending with making beneficiaries pay more.

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