When will Microsoft drop the other health-service shoe?
On the heels of its announcement of its consumer-focused HealthVault health-service strategy, Microsoft has acquired more business-side health technology.
On October 28, Microsoft said it planned to acquire for an undisclosed amount the software, intellectual property and other assets from Bangkok, Thailand-based Global Care Solutions. GCS develops "enterprise-class health information systems" that help multinational hospitals handle workflow and patient-safety information.
Microsoft bought another business-focused healthcare company, Azyxxi, in 2006. Azyxxi's software is designed to allow different patient-information record systems to interoperate.
While HealthVault is Microsoft's software+service offering for end users, there allegedly also is a Microsoft S+S solution in the works for physicians/hospitals. Maybe it will take the form of more of a Microsoft managed service -- something like a HealthVault Online (like Microsoft's recently rebranded SharePoint Online, Exchange Online, etc.?
In any case, Microsoft is continuing to expand its push into healthcare far faster than it is in any other vertical markets.
(Mary Jane Bootie. Image by noricum. CC 2.0)