The world’s largest technology companies have been looking for new health solutions for years. Details on which projects each lead.
The American giant Microsoft just made the second largest acquisition in its history by acquiring AI company Nuance for its healthcare-specific cloud technology And it’s just one of the ways tech giants are investing heavily in digitizing healthcare.
The crisis sparked by the global COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic exposed health shortages in many ways, such as a shortage of workers and the prevalence of disease among young people.
However, this sector is valued at $ 3,600 million, became one focus on investments and contractingExperts predict that health care will skyrocket as the baby boom generation gets older and needs more care.
The biggest technology companies – Microsoft, Amazon, Google and Apple – have been betting on health for years. These are the latest news and moves from technology companies in their quest to revolutionize healthcare.
Microsoft
Microsoft launched Cloud for Healthcare, the first industry-specific cloud offering, at the end of last yearThe product allows healthcare professionals to schedule and conduct virtual visits to patients within Microsoft Teams; and monitor patients’ medical devices remotely via Azure.
The tech company is trying to raise its flag on digitizing and improving medical records to reduce doctors’ administrative duties and reduce physician burnout.
Microsoft worked with the speech recognition and artificial intelligence tools from Nuance to take note of conversations between patients and clinicians during telemedicine consultations in Microsoft Teams.
We believe our solutions, along with Microsoft’s platform and capabilities, will bring medical practice back to that intimate physician-patient interaction; moreover, they actually reduce the administrative burden“he remarked Mark Benjamin CEO of Nuance, in dialogue with CNBC.
Amazon
Just like your ecommerce and cloud computing businesses, Amazon is strongly committed to health through multiple avenues.
The company launched in November Amazon pharmacy, who can deliver their recipes to most US customers free of charge.
Prime members receive special benefits; such as discounts of up to 80% on generics when they pay without insurance and are delivered within 2 days when using Amazon Pharmacy.
Amazon claims its newly released wearable Halo can analyze a user’s voice through his speech and calculate body fat percentage using smartphone camera, 2 features that set it apart from its competitors Fitbit and Apple Watch.
But Amazon’s most ambitious effort is to develop a way to connect employees of other companies with primary care specialists for online and face-to-face consultation.
Amazon plans to sell primary care – called Amazon Care – to companies that want to reduce health care costs for their employees.
Google had arguably the most tumultuous process of establishing a healthcare companyThree senior executives from Google Health – including the Global Deployment Manager- recently left the project
The tech giant first launched Google Health in 2012, but closed it down after just two years due to low user interest.
Even if Google Health returned in 2018 under new leadership, Blake Dodge and Hugh Langley of Business Insider reported that the team struggled to define its mission and figure out how to make money.
Public criticism for privacy hindered Google Health’s first major alliance with Ascension to store medical records in the cloud
The United States has launched an investigation into the agreement to determine whether Google’s use of medical records violates privacy laws.
Sources indicated that Verily, a life sciences research agency, could be spun off from Google’s parent company Alphabet to operate as a separate company
Google’s healthcare business posted recent wins, including the completion of its $ 2.1 billion acquisition of Fitbit in January. US regulators are still determining whether the deal violates antitrust law
The company also took off Make Studio, a tool that helps clinicians organize patient dataAnd launched a collaboration of u $ 100 million between Google Cloud and the Amwell telehealth platform.
Apple
The Cupertino giant invests in helping users with their personal health through WatchIn September, Apple has unveiled a new $ 400 Apple Watch which measures the user’s blood oxygen levels and heart rate.
And though it’s not exactly health, Apple has just launched Fitness Plus, a subscription training service with Peloton as its main rival.
The service from you $ s9.99 per month, Requiere un Apple Watch register. Insurer UnitedHealthcare offered subscribers a free 6-month subscription to Fitness Plus.
Equivalent to Google, sources nearby Apple noted in 2019 that the health team lacked focus and growth. Microsoft Y Google they had no additional statements to add. Amazon Y Apple were not readily available for comment
Source: Business Insider