Vizient will integrate three of IBM Corp.'s Watson Health products into its analytics portfolio, the companies said.
Under a new agreement with group purchasing and performance improvement company Vizient, Watson Health is "withdrawing" its ActionOI, CareDiscovery and Market Expert offerings from its portfolio, according to an announcement the companies released Tuesday.
Vizient will continue to support customers of those products through its Operational Data Base, Clinical Data Base and Sg2 Market Edge tools, respectively.
The companies did not disclose financial details of the transaction.
IBM's revenue was down 3.4% in the first quarter of 2020. The company doesn't break out Watson Health's earnings individually.
For Vizient, the addition of IBM's services will help to bolster its analytics portfolio, said Bharat Sundaram, Vizient's president and chief operating officer, in a statement.
"This partnership between Vizient and IBM is one more meaningful step in growing the critical mass of our solutions to a scale that allows for not only expanded benchmarking and networking abilities, but also allows organizations of all sizes and types to benefit from meaningful comparisons and identify practices that are truly best-in-class," he said.
IBM Watson Health came under fire in 2018 after reports its much-hyped AI for cancer treatment, called Watson for Oncology, recommended erroneous and unsafe cancer treatments. The division reportedly struggled with internal disputes and laid off employees that same year.
But IBM said the latest deal is not the end of Watson Health.
Watson Health will continue to offer services designed to apply AI, blockchain and data to improve clinical decisionmaking and simplify administrative processes.
"This streamlining of the Watson Health portfolio will enable us to focus on new strategies and innovations to help support healthcare providers and payers through the next stages of digital transformation," Barbara Hayes, general manager for IBM Watson Health's payer and provider division, said in a statement.
