In order to enhance patient care, IBM joined hands with Aetna Inc., on Thursday. The corporation will work with Aetna insurance Company's health IT unit, ActiveHealth Management to come up with a cloud-based patient-records service for doctors and care givers.

The service would allow doctors to access a patient’s complete health information, such as his earlier medical records, claims, and lab information from a variety of sources. All this information will help the physicians to settle on a treatment, which is best for the patient.

Normally, it is seen that physicians do not have a patient’s latest information handy. This prevents them to arrive at a decision without delay. Also, patients have to take their health records every time they visit their doctor.

With the introduction of this new service, such hurdles will be removed. Collaborative Care will collect and submit all kind of health related information of a patient, to put together a comprehensive, latest record, which can be revised to help in times of emergencies.

Robert Merkel, Vice President and healthcare industry chief of IBM Global Business Services, said, "With the adoption of electronic medical records, we're providing deep analytical insight to support doctors and patient care, and providing the most advanced analytics".