Here are 14 recent news updates on major health IT and technology companies:
1. Allscripts and Microsoft joined forces to design a new clinical research model that leverages the EHR and other technologies clinicians use when treating patients.
2. Apple CEO Tim Cook suggested that the company's upcoming health-related work will be its "greatest contribution to mankind" in an interview with CNBC's Jim Cramer.
3. Athenahealth shareholders filed a class-action lawsuit over the proposed sale of the company.
4. Best Buy has been quietly building up its efforts in the home healthcare space.
5. The National Federation of the Blind filed a lawsuit alleging Epic's software isn't suitable for blind and low-vision users.
6. GE Healthcare and Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville, Tenn., entered into a five-year partnership to develop artificial intelligence tools to improve cancer immunotherapy treatments.
7. The Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson's Research awarded IBM a grant to explore how artificial intelligence could improve medical understanding of Parkinson's disease.
8. IBM's Watson Health division is still a "very important part" of the company's business, despite recent criticism of its AI-powered cancer treatment tool, CEO Ginni Rometty said in an interview with STAT.
9. Livongo Health named former Allscripts President Lee Shapiro its CFO.
10. Medsphere Systems Corp. acquired HealthLine Solutions, a company focused on creating applications that help users manage healthcare supply chain inventory.
11. Microsoft entered into a collaboration with medical device company Hill-Rom to integrate medical device data into EHRs.
12. Microsoft is seeking new research partners to join its T-cell Antigen Map project, a collaborative effort to map the human immune system that the company launched with Adaptive Biotechnologies last year.
13. Withings, formerly Nokia's digital health business, unveiled its newest hybrid smartwatch, which includes what the company calls a "medical-grade" electrocardiogram feature.
14. Alphabet's life sciences arm Verily raised $1 billion in a funding round led by private equity firm Silver Lake.