Microsoft and Healthcare

November 15, 2021

With the development and usage of AI in the healthcare industry, tech giants are making the most of the opportunity by offering technology services. While most big techs are focused on consumers, Microsoft is focusing on healthcare providers. Let us look at how.

Microsoft makes it clear that it does not want to become a healthcare provider. The tech giant aims to enable and empower healthcare providers to provide better services and do good for the people.

Microsoft’s moves in the healthcare space

Microsoft doesn’t want to become a healthcare provider. However, it has clear visions to enter the healthcare space and make the most out of it.

Cloud for Healthcare

Cloud for Healthcare is Microsoft’s first industry-specific cloud offering. It offers cloud services like data analysis, collaboration, operation services, etc., for the healthcare market. It aims to provide solutions with industry-specific data models, cross-cloud connectors, workflows, and APIs.

The cloud also provides interoperability by using a common data model for sharing data across apps. This will allow the building of platforms for integrating information across healthcare providers, pharmacies, and payers. For example- a collaboration between members of the medical team, providing doctors with the patient’s medical history, etc.

Cloud for Healthcare will help healthcare organizations in improving patient experience and driving operational efficiency by managing health data at scale. The healthcare organizations will also get added benefits of end-to-end security and compliance.

Microsoft Healthcare Bot

Microsoft made the Healthcare Bot service available generally before the pandemic. The healthcare bot has special medical features like medical content and terminology, healthcare intelligence, and symptom checker. It allows healthcare organizations to build and deploy AI-driven virtual health assistants and chatbots which can integrate with health systems like Electronic Health Records (EHRs).

Azure IoT connector for FIHR

IoT stands for Internet of Things. It refers to the devices that connect and exchange data with other devices over the internet.

FIHR stands for Fast Healthcare Interoperability Resources that is an international standard for passing healthcare data between systems.

Microsoft launched Azure API for FIHR, which will provide a method to exchange and manage data in FIHR format. Microsoft provides both Azure API and related platform-as-a-service to integrate relevant data into the cloud.

With the help of Azure API, healthcare providers will be able to collaborate devices with other systems and applications. They will also be able to link the data with EHRs and Microsoft Teams via different providers.

Azure APIs will also enable Cloud for Healthcare for medical IoT devices, providing a plethora of services under the Cloud for Healthcare.

Microsoft is also enabling additional healthcare features in its existing products and services. Here are a few of them:

Microsoft teams for Healthcare

Microsoft Teams is a HIPAA complaint to integrate EHR data. Microsoft has added new features inside Teams to allow secure conversations between doctors and patients.

Priority notifications– notifications every two minutes for urgent messages
Message delegation– delegate messages to other clinical staff members
Integrate FIHR enabled EHR data– Integrate EHR data into teams for easy patient-doctor conversations.
Secure workflows– secure messaging, video and audio calling features and options to store medical documents in Teams instead of saving them locally.

Microsoft 365 for Healthcare

Microsoft is adding healthcare-specific features to its products to help healthcare providers.

Microsoft office 365 includes tools that can help healthcare providers provide coordinated care to patients. Office 365 has tools like Microsoft Teams, Dynamics 365, and many others, which are now HIPAA compliant to put in use for secure doctor-patient communications.

Dynamics 365 has increased flexibility for scheduling appointments, receiving follow-ups, integrating VAs like health bots, etc. Microsoft is providing additional services and allowing the integration of multiple tools for remote patient monitoring.

AI for health- AI for good projects

Microsoft also launched a philanthropic project- ‘AI for Health’ contributing $40 Million over 4 years. The focus areas of this initiative are diagnosis and treatment of diseases, accelerating medical research, improving access to care for the underprivileged, etc.

Microsoft aims to search for cures for diseases using the insights derived from AI technologies in its AI for Health project.

Partnerships and acquisitions by Microsoft in the healthcare sector

Acquisition of Nuance

Microsoft acquired Nuance, an AI-powered speech technology company, for $19.7 Billion. It’s the second-largest acquisition. While Siri, Alexa, etc., can help you with grocery shopping, Nuance is specialized in understanding medical terminology.

Nuance’s Dragon Ambient Experience (DAX) digitalizes the conversation between doctors and patients and can convert it into clinical reports, electronic health records, and automated documentation.

According to reports, the Nuance acquisition expands Microsoft’s total addressable market for healthcare to $500 Million. Apart from healthcare, Nuance’s technology is used in banks, call centers and can provide AI-based virtual voice assistance. The expected market opportunity with Nuance’s technology is around $4 to $8 billion.

Partnership with Walgreens Boots Alliance

Microsoft announced a strategic partnership with Walgreens Boots Alliance to combine the AI technologies of both companies and make healthcare delivery affordable, personal, and accessible for people around the globe.

Collaboration with Veragim

Microsoft collaborated with Veragim to innovate clinical research. They collectively aim to enhance the clinical design and improve the research experience for both researchers and participants.

Microsoft has also collaborated with other companies in the healthcare space like Hill-Rom, Novarad, ThoughtWire, Innovaccer, etc., to help them provide better care to patients using Microsoft’s platform.