Finding new ways to impact lives: social programs in the cognitive era
Cognitive computing refers to systems that can learn at scale, reason with purpose and interact with humans naturally. These systems are designed to combine human intelligence with a range of artificial intelligence capabilities such as machine learning, natural language processing, and image analysis. This powerful combination amplifies the impact of what humans and machines can do separately. And when it’s applied to social services, it can help strengthen and extend our social safety nets by addressing many of the challenges that impede the administration and delivery of benefits and programs. These challenges include data inaccessibility and complexity, high caseloads, and the rate of caseworker turnover.
A recent study by the Frost & Sullivan group shows that many leaders in the health and human services sector continue to grapple with cognitive technology and how it can truly have an impact in this sector. The authors of the study report that cognitive computing systems are playing an important, though currently a limited role in meeting the need for data-driven, evidence-based decision making to improve the effectiveness of social program agencies. Leaders of social programs need to be more assertive in implementing cognitive computing solutions to drive program and staff success, or their agencies will continue to struggle with the problems of inefficiency, high staff turnover, and limited success.
IBM Watson Health is a sponsor of the APHSA/ISM conference, October 22-25 in National Harbor Maryland and will deliver a session on Tuesday October 25 from 1:15 pm to 2:15 pm- Finding New Ways to Impact Lives: Social Programs in the Cognitive Era. This workshop will help attendees learn how Human Services organizations are using cognitive computing systems to rethink their operating models and change the way they deliver services. Hear from Jason McRoy, Boulder County Housing & Human Services, on their vision for improving client outcomes and Vernon Brown, CEO, Aspiranet, on innovations for transitional age youth emerging from the child welfare system in California. Amy Wykoff of IBM Watson health will explain cognitive systems and the ways in which they can utilize structured and unstructured data, to improve outcomes and find new ways to impact lives. If attending ISM – Mark your calendar and be sure to join us for this session!
Learn more about Watson Health solutions for government health and human services – ibm.com/govhhs