5 of the biggest health IT deals in the first half of 2021

Below are the five of the biggest health IT mergers and acquisitions Becker's has reported on in 2021:

1. Microsoft will buy speech recognition company Nuance Communications in an all-cash transaction valued at $19.7 billion, including debt assumption. Microsoft said Nuance's technology will be used to expand its healthcare offerings for its cloud products. Nuance currently sells tools for recognizing and transcribing speech in physician visits, voicemails and more.
   
   The transaction has been approved by the boards of both Nuance and Microsoft. Microsoft said the deal is expected to close by the end of 2021.
   
   
2. Change Healthcare and UnitedHealth Group's OptumInsight completed their $13 billion merger agreement. The newly merged company offers software, data analytics and other services to healthcare clients. 
   
   
3. Health information management company Ciox Health and real-world health data company Datavant signed a $7 billion merger agreement.The combined entity, which will be named Datavant, will allow healthcare providers, governments, academic institutions, insurers, life science companies and health data companies to access and exchange data.
   
   The newly formed company's network will comprise more than 15,000 clinics, 2,000 hospitals, 120 health plans, 100 health data analytics companies, 75 government agencies, 70 academic institutions and nonprofits and 30 life science companies.
   
   
4. Allscripts closed the $1.35 billion sale of its care coordination company CarePort Health to WellSky. The EHR company plans to use the net after-tax proceeds of the sale to invest in its health IT solutions and support share repurchases.
   
   
5. Cerner closed its acquisition of Kantar Health, the clinical research division of data and consulting company Kantar Group, for $375 million. Kantar Health offers data, analytics and commercial research consulting services to life sciences clients. It focuses on data products to support research in rare diseases and oncology, among other conditions.
   
   Under the acquisition, Cerner plans to grow its data capabilities for the Cerner Learning Health Network, which aims to make deidentified clinical data accessible to healthcare and pharmaceutical organizations conducting medical studies.