News in brief - Jan. 9, 2012

UnitedHealthcare ads were misleading, Vermont regulators say - WellPoint moves forward with development of Watson technology

UnitedHealthcare ads were misleading, Vermont regulators say

Health insurance giant UnitedHealthcare could face a fine in Vermont over the company's alleged misleading of advertisements and failure to clear the ads with the state's Dept. Of Banking, Insurance, Securities and Health Care Administration.

A hearing officer will decide whether the company should face disciplinary action over the administrative charges brought Dec. 5.

The department's filing said UnitedHealthcare did not clear its newspaper and TV ads and direct mailings through the department and that the ads were misleading. The filing said the ads suggested that Medicare supplement coverage would be available at no cost to subscribers.

UnitedHealthcare "is committed to complying with all state and federal requirements in marketing our health care plans," company spokesman Matthew Burns said in an email.

WellPoint moves forward with development of Watson technology

WellPoint has tapped the Samuel Oschin Comprehensive Cancer Institute at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles to help develop its commercial launch of IBM's Watson technology.

Watson is the supercomputer that in February 2011 beat the two best contestants to play the game show "Jeopardy!" After the victory, IBM announced that it will take Watson into health care. In September 2011, insurance giant WellPoint announced that it will partner with IBM to develop the first commercial version of the Watson technology and focus on oncology first.

Physicians and researchers at Cedars-Sinai will assist WellPoint in creating a product that can be used by physicians to treat patients. "The task at hand is to identify data elements and data sources which would create a knowledge base within Watson to allow it to assist [physician] decision-making," said M. William Audeh, MD, medical director at the Samuel Oschin center, who is leading the organization's involvement in the project.

WellPoint plans to deploy its first offering of the system later this year in a pilot program with physician groups.