Here's the latest roundup of stories about 22 health information technology companies, including Google, Apple and Amazon.
1. Helix, a direct-to-consumer DNA sequencing startup based in San Carlos, Calif., is closing two of its four offices and has cut an undisclosed number of jobs.
2. Epic added telehealth technology company TytoCare's platform to its App Orchard.
3. Google Cloud is extending its partnership with Redwood City, Calif.-based software development company Informatica to improve data management capabilities for artificial intelligence and analytics solutions.
4. Comcast is pushing further into the health space with an in-home device designed to monitor users' health.
5. Cerner launched its new near-site health network Anuva Health, which aims to combine in person and virtual care services for organizations to offer to their employees at lower costs.
6. Biofourmis, a startup producing AI-powered health management solutions, announced May 21 that it has closed a $35 million Series B funding round and will be moving its headquarters from Singapore to Boston.
7. MyHeritage, a direct-to-consumer DNA testing company based in Israel, is expanding its offerings beyond ancestry reports to provide insights into genetic health conditions.
8. Alegeus launched a mobile platform using AI to personalize recommendations for a user's health savings account.
9. Despite Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg's repeated assurances that AI will eliminate the proliferation of hate speech on the social networking platform, Mike Schroepfer, the company's chief technology officer and a formerly staunch advocate for AI, is no longer quite as sure.
10. Epic has maintained the highest customer satisfaction score among large healthcare organizations, according to a KLAS Research report.
11. Apple's research and development spending has grown from $1 billion in 2009 to an estimated $13 billion in 2019.
12. Verily Life Sciences, an Alphabet company, launched the Baseline Health System Consortium in collaboration with six U.S. health systems to help make clinical research more accessible for patients.
13. Salesforce experienced a "major issue," May 17 that made its Sales Cloud and Service Cloud products inaccessible to customers for nearly 18 hours.
14. Using a combination of AI, satellite imagery and publicly available census information, Facebook has created three types of maps to improve responses to disease outbreaks.
15. IBM has partnered with Samsung SDS to strengthen an existing blockchain-based hyperledger while also improving other blockchain ecosystems.
16. The Department of Veteran Affairs' transition to a Cerner EHR may move more quickly than previously anticipated.
17. Health[at]Scale, a San Jose, Calif.-based startup developing machine learning solutions for precision medicine, has raised $16 million in a Series A funding round, with UnitedHealth Group's Optum as the sole investor.
18. Amazon filed for a patent, which was published May 14, to develop a Proof of Work system that uses technology similar to that used in cryptocurrency-related blockchains.
19. Using mass cytometry and machine learning technology, scientists at IBM's Zurich-based research lab and the University of Zurich have mapped out the cellular composition of breast cancer tumors.
20. DrChrono, an EHR, medical billing and practice management software developer, added a new feature that uses voice recognition technology to chart physicians' clinical notes in the EHR.
21. Accenture introduced INTIENT, a new platform that enables advanced data analytics and the integration of new technology specifically for life sciences companies, on May 16.
22. Apple acquired a new patent application for a noninvasive system that uses sensors in a pillow or placed underneath a mattress to monitor an individual's medical conditions while sleeping.
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