Microsoft to boost health IT offering with Sentillion buy
- Reduce text size Decrease text size
- Increase text size Increase text size
- Print article Print
- Jump to comments Comment
- Share this article Share
- Email article to a friend Email
Acquisition will help software giant capitalise on President Obama's heathcare record digitisation plan
Software giant Microsoft has announced its intention to acquire US-based healthcare IT specialist Sentillion, a move that it says will strengthen its portfolio in the lucrative sector.
The acquisition signals Microsoft’s intent to capitalise on President Barack Obama’s policy of digitalising all US patient records by 2014, which could lead to a string of healthcare IT outsourcing deals in the country.
Sentillion's range of clinical, business and personal productivity applications for hospitals and healthcare firms, will be integrated with Microsoft's Amalga Unified Intelligence System. This will grant healthcare professionals easier access to electronic patient records across IT systems, the company claimed.
Peter Neupert, corporate vice president of Microsoft Health Solutions Group, said that the deal will promote “a connected health system in which the free and rapid flow of information, coupled with streamlined access to a hospital’s myriad healthcare applications, empowers doctors and nurses to perform their roles with greater insight, speed and effectiveness”.
Financial details of the purchase were not disclosed by either of the involved parties.
In the UK, a report from Tory think tank the Centre for Policy Studies published in July 2009 suggested that NHS patient records should be stored in systems maintained by private companies such as Google and Microsoft, rather than government-owned databases. The suggestion raised concerns surrounding data protection and accountability.
Eariler this week, Chancellor Alastair Darling cofirmed that the government’s NHS IT modernisation scheme, which is said to be heavily over budget, is to be significantly scaled back as part of a plan to reduce the country's budget deficit.
