Microsoft today announced it would acquire software and intellectual property from Global Care Solutions, a health-information systems developer based in Bangkok, Thailand. The financials of the deal were not divulged. acquires care from global health information microsoft solutions technology
The privately held company's information technology will partner with Microsoft to provide hospitals around the world with resources to more efficiently manage scheduling, medical records, and billing in a multitude of languages.
Global Care Solutions originally developed its system with Bumrungrad, an internationally acclaimed hospital out of Bangkok, in mind. The facility treats more than 1.2 million patients from 190 countries annually. The GCS system aids the staff in managing clinical workflow so efficiently that it boasts an average wait time of 17 minutes.
With the technology giant virtually in the news every day, shareholders haven't responded to the acquisition in an overly dramatic way. As of 12:15 p.m., MSFT is at $34.80, down 0.63%, yet notably trading more than 17% above its 80-day and 160-day moving averages.
Source : IB times
Showing posts with label Microsoft. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Microsoft. Show all posts
Wednesday, November 7, 2007
Thursday, October 18, 2007
Microsoft joins lawmakers, activists to demand patient privacy rights
Lawmakers, corporations and activists joined today to urge Congress to protect patients' medical privacy rights. Activists say such rights are not adequately protected, especially when it comes to electronic health records.
At a Capitol Hill briefing sponsored by the Coalition for Patient Privacy, at least 46 states, national organizations and corporations, including Microsoft, petitioned Congress to include adequate patient protection in any healthcare IT legislation it may pass.
Today's request is based on the Coalition's extensive 2007 patient privacy principles and calls for privacy that applies to all health information regardless of the source, the form it is in, or who handles it.
According to Deborah Peel, MD, founder and chair of Patient Privacy Rights, the Coalition
developed the privacy principles to serve as standards for legislation. Today's effort is just a small part of a greater effort to curtail passage of currently proposed federal healthcare IT legislation that Peel said offers consumers no control over access to personal health information.
Today's briefing follows the coalition's endorsement of Microsoft's new patient-protected personal health record platform announced last week - a product Peel said is based on the coalition's privacy principles.
Frank Torres, consumer affairs director at Microsoft said protections such as those defined by the oalition are needed to ensure the creation of a healthcare IT ecosystem that consumers can trust. "We can empower people to lead healthy lives, while putting them at the center and in control of their health information," Torres said.
In Peel's view, privacy protections must follow the data. "There should be no secret health databases, and no one should be able to access personal health information without informed consent," Peel said. "All Americans want their children and grandchildren to be judged on their abilities, not on their health or genetic records."
Rep. Ed Markey, (D-Mass. ), chair of the House Privacy Caucus, was a speaker at today's briefing and one of the signers of the letter to Congress.
"Medical information is probably the most sensitive and personal information that we have about ourselves," Markey said. "Without strong privacy safeguards, a health IT database will become an open invitation for identity thieves, fraudsters, extortionists or marketers looking to cash in on our medical histories."
Markey said he would be working with Congress to craft legislation that both promotes the use of healthcare IT and preserves patient privacy. "A nationwide, seamless, effective health IT network holds tremendous promise in terms of better coordinated care, reduced medical errors and reduced costs," Markey said, "but in order to fulfill that promise, such a network must have tough privacy safeguards."
Source : Healthcare IT News
At a Capitol Hill briefing sponsored by the Coalition for Patient Privacy, at least 46 states, national organizations and corporations, including Microsoft, petitioned Congress to include adequate patient protection in any healthcare IT legislation it may pass.
Today's request is based on the Coalition's extensive 2007 patient privacy principles and calls for privacy that applies to all health information regardless of the source, the form it is in, or who handles it.
According to Deborah Peel, MD, founder and chair of Patient Privacy Rights, the Coalition
developed the privacy principles to serve as standards for legislation. Today's effort is just a small part of a greater effort to curtail passage of currently proposed federal healthcare IT legislation that Peel said offers consumers no control over access to personal health information.
Today's briefing follows the coalition's endorsement of Microsoft's new patient-protected personal health record platform announced last week - a product Peel said is based on the coalition's privacy principles.
Frank Torres, consumer affairs director at Microsoft said protections such as those defined by the oalition are needed to ensure the creation of a healthcare IT ecosystem that consumers can trust. "We can empower people to lead healthy lives, while putting them at the center and in control of their health information," Torres said.
In Peel's view, privacy protections must follow the data. "There should be no secret health databases, and no one should be able to access personal health information without informed consent," Peel said. "All Americans want their children and grandchildren to be judged on their abilities, not on their health or genetic records."
Rep. Ed Markey, (D-Mass. ), chair of the House Privacy Caucus, was a speaker at today's briefing and one of the signers of the letter to Congress.
"Medical information is probably the most sensitive and personal information that we have about ourselves," Markey said. "Without strong privacy safeguards, a health IT database will become an open invitation for identity thieves, fraudsters, extortionists or marketers looking to cash in on our medical histories."
Markey said he would be working with Congress to craft legislation that both promotes the use of healthcare IT and preserves patient privacy. "A nationwide, seamless, effective health IT network holds tremendous promise in terms of better coordinated care, reduced medical errors and reduced costs," Markey said, "but in order to fulfill that promise, such a network must have tough privacy safeguards."
Source : Healthcare IT News
Friday, October 5, 2007
Microsoft's New Online Tools Face Obstacles, Competition
Microsoft on Thursday joined a crowded field of technology and insurance companies offering personal health records, raising questions about whether consumers will use the new product, the Los Angeles Times reports.
Large health insurers -- like UnitedHealth, which operates PacifiCare and WellPoint -- have offered Web-based PHRs for a couple of years and believe they have an advantage over outside vendors, such as Microsoft, because they can preload each enrollee's PHR with claims information (Girion, Los Angeles Times, 10/5).
Microsoft hopes that individuals will grant physicians, clinics and hospitals the right to transmit prescriptions, test results and other medical information directly to their HealthVault account (iHealthBeat, 10/4). However, providers have little incentive to share the data or resources to populate an electronic record, the Wall Street Journal reports.
Thursday, October 4, 2007
Microsoft launches HealthVault
Microsoft today launched a new technology platform it bills as the answer to how consumers can best get a handle on their healthcare information – and share it. Called Microsoft HealthVault, the technology not only has the support of healthcare providers, patient activists and device manufacturers, it also passes muster with one of the industry’s toughest privacy rights advocate Deborah Peel, MD, founder of the Patient Privacy Rights Foundation, one of 50 organizations that comprise the Coalition for Patient Privacy.
The company also unveiled a new search engine called Microsoft HealthVault Search. The promise of HealthVault is that it will bring the health and technology industries together to create new applications, services and connected devices, said Peter Neupert, corporate vice president of Microsoft’s Health Solutions Group. People will be empowered to monitor anything from weight loss to diabetes, he said.
“People are concerned to find themselves at the center of the healthcare ecosystem today,” Neupert said, because they must navigate a complex web of disconnected interactions between providers, hospitals, insurance companies and even government agencies, Neupert said. “Our focus is simple: to empower people to lead healthy lives.”He said the launch of HealthVault makes it possible for people to collect their private health information on their terms. Also, companies across the healthcare industry will be able to develop compatible tools and services built on the HealthVault platform. Addressing concerns over privacy and security was critical to development and launch of HealthVault, Microsoft executives said. Peel said Microsoft is leading the way for the rest of the industry. “Their model is that consumers truly should control the information and that’s the direction they want to take as a company,” said Peel. “We really think that because they are the industry leader that the rest of industry will have to follow or be left behind.”
“Microsoft has agreed to adhere to all of the privacy principles that the coalition developed in 2007.” Peel said. “Not only adhere to them in terms of contracts but to be audited on these principles. We think they’re setting a new amazingly high bar and frankly, we think what they’re doing is really the best practice that entire industry needs to follow.”A Who’s Who of healthcare IT industry leaders seemed to have joined Microsoft for the hoopla in the nation’s capital. Microsoft announced 40 partners for HealthVault. Among them are the American Heart Association, Johnson & Johnson, Polar, maker of heart rate monitors, MedStar Health, a healthcare system that serves the Baltimore and Washington region, and Chicago-based Allscripts, developer of electronic health records. Allscripts will be first to connect with HealthVault with its eRx Now, the Web-based electronic prescribing solution offered at no cost to physicians across the country as part of the National ePrescribing Patient Initiative, or NEPSI.
HealthVault lets patients of eRx NOW physician users receive an electronic copy of their medication history, conditions, and allergies, which they can then transfer to their own personal health record or other HealthVault-enabled consumer health application. Frank Opelka, MD, CEO of LSU Healthcare Network in New Orleans, said HealthVault was one more reason why doctors “should run, not walk to embrace electronic prescribing through NEPSI and, on a broader scale, electronic health records.”“What we are really talking about is connecting healthcare,” said Tullman. “It’s not enough to have good software, it’s got to be connected.”
Source: HealthcareItNews
The company also unveiled a new search engine called Microsoft HealthVault Search. The promise of HealthVault is that it will bring the health and technology industries together to create new applications, services and connected devices, said Peter Neupert, corporate vice president of Microsoft’s Health Solutions Group. People will be empowered to monitor anything from weight loss to diabetes, he said.
“People are concerned to find themselves at the center of the healthcare ecosystem today,” Neupert said, because they must navigate a complex web of disconnected interactions between providers, hospitals, insurance companies and even government agencies, Neupert said. “Our focus is simple: to empower people to lead healthy lives.”He said the launch of HealthVault makes it possible for people to collect their private health information on their terms. Also, companies across the healthcare industry will be able to develop compatible tools and services built on the HealthVault platform. Addressing concerns over privacy and security was critical to development and launch of HealthVault, Microsoft executives said. Peel said Microsoft is leading the way for the rest of the industry. “Their model is that consumers truly should control the information and that’s the direction they want to take as a company,” said Peel. “We really think that because they are the industry leader that the rest of industry will have to follow or be left behind.”
“Microsoft has agreed to adhere to all of the privacy principles that the coalition developed in 2007.” Peel said. “Not only adhere to them in terms of contracts but to be audited on these principles. We think they’re setting a new amazingly high bar and frankly, we think what they’re doing is really the best practice that entire industry needs to follow.”A Who’s Who of healthcare IT industry leaders seemed to have joined Microsoft for the hoopla in the nation’s capital. Microsoft announced 40 partners for HealthVault. Among them are the American Heart Association, Johnson & Johnson, Polar, maker of heart rate monitors, MedStar Health, a healthcare system that serves the Baltimore and Washington region, and Chicago-based Allscripts, developer of electronic health records. Allscripts will be first to connect with HealthVault with its eRx Now, the Web-based electronic prescribing solution offered at no cost to physicians across the country as part of the National ePrescribing Patient Initiative, or NEPSI.
HealthVault lets patients of eRx NOW physician users receive an electronic copy of their medication history, conditions, and allergies, which they can then transfer to their own personal health record or other HealthVault-enabled consumer health application. Frank Opelka, MD, CEO of LSU Healthcare Network in New Orleans, said HealthVault was one more reason why doctors “should run, not walk to embrace electronic prescribing through NEPSI and, on a broader scale, electronic health records.”“What we are really talking about is connecting healthcare,” said Tullman. “It’s not enough to have good software, it’s got to be connected.”
Source: HealthcareItNews
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)