Microsoft debuted three new tools for hospitals and health systems that combine cloud and artificial intelligence capabilities, GeekWire reports.
"We recognize that we are not a healthcare company," Peter Lee, corporate vice president at Microsoft Healthcare, told GeekWire. "Our goal is to understand what our cloud and the services delivered in our cloud need to be like in order to support the success of as many startups, innovators, incumbents, big companies and small companies as possible."
The three new products:
1. Microsoft 365 for hospital teams. The company added features to Microsoft Teams that allow healthcare organizations to securely and compliantly communicate health data. The platform is also integratable with EHR systems.
2. Azure API for health-record sharing. Microsoft has created an Azure application programming interface that uses the FHIR format. FHIR, which stands for Fast Healthcare Interoperability Resources, is a standardized data format designed to enable seamless data sharing.
"By creating a secure cloud API platform that uses the FHIR format, Microsoft aims to unleash a wave of healthcare data services built on Azure. One pilot program was a service to monitor chemotherapy patient data across several hospitals, which was developed by the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research in Seattle," GeekWire reports.
3. Microsoft Healthcare Bot. The company has moved its healthcare chatbot from research project to reality. The bot, which is both an off-the-shelf service and a platform, includes a symptom checker and is able to understand medical terminology. The bot may be used to help triage patients, GeekWire notes.