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takyon writes:

According to an internal audit, mismanagement of funds and the failure to involve staff IT experts led to the termination of an IBM Watson project at a University of Texas cancer center:

According to a blistering audit by the University of Texas System, the cancer center grossly mismanaged its splashy program with IBM, which started back in 2012. The program aimed to teach Watson how to treat cancer patients and match them to clinical trials. Watson initially met goals and impressed center doctors, but the project hit the rocks as MD Anderson officials snubbed their own IT experts, mishandled about $62 million in funding, and failed to follow basic procedures for overseeing contracts and invoices, the audit concludes.

IBM pulled support for the project back in September of last year. Watson is currently prohibited from being used on patients there, and the fate of MD Anderson's partnership with IBM is in question. MD Anderson is now seeking bids from other contractors who might take IBM's place. Meanwhile, a similar project that IBM started with Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York around the same time frame has already wrapped up. It resulted in a commercial product that is currently making its way into hospitals around the world, including in [Jupiter, Florida].

[...] Lastly, auditors found that invoices were paid regardless of whether services were provided, but weren't consistently paid or paid in a timely way. Some fees were suspiciously set at rates just below the amounts that would trigger review and require approval by the Board of Regents. And, MD Anderson paid out money from donations that hadn't actually come through yet—leaving the project with an $11.59 million deficit.

Original Submission

1. "takyon" - https://soylentnews.org/~takyon/
2. "mismanagement of funds and the failure to involve staff IT experts" - https://arstechnica.com/science/2017/02/ibms-watson-proves-useful-at-fighting-cancer-except-in-texas/
3. "a blistering audit" - http://www.utsystem.edu/sites/utsfiles/documents/system-audit/ut-system-administration-special-review-procurement-procedures-related-utmdacc-oncology-expert-advis/ut-system-administration-special-review-procurement-procedures-related-utmdacc-oncology-expert-advis.pdf
4. "Original Submission" - https://soylentnews.org/submit.pl?op=viewsub&subid=18729

printed from SoylentNews, Mismanagement Sinks IBM Watson Partnership With University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center on 2024-05-15 14:00:15