From acquisitions to new initiatives to executives leaving, here are the latest of stories about health IT companies, including Google, Microsoft and Optum.
- Data analytics firm Change Healthcare will combine with UnitedHealth Group subsidiary Optum in a $13 billion deal expected to close in the second half of 2021.
- Optum is also in talks to acquire Atrius Health, a 715-physician group based in Newton, Mass.
- Google completed its acquisition of Fitbit, solidifying the tech giant's advances to improve its wearables division.
- Amazon began selling a $110 at-home COVID-19 test that determines results based on a saliva sample.
- The Vaccination Credential Initiative — a collective working to create a digital, interoperable vaccination record system — formed, with partners including Microsoft, Epic, Cerner, Salesforce, Change Healthcare, Oracle and Rochester, Minn.-based Mayo Clinic.
- The Google News Initiative launched a $3 million fund to bolster journalistic projects combating misinformation about COVID-19 vaccination efforts.
- Amanda Adkins, vice president of strategic growth at Cerner, left the EHR company after losing her campaign for a seat in Congress.
- Google sister company Verily inked an agreement with Microsoft to run its biomedical research platform on Microsoft's Azure cloud platform.
- Surgical Care Affiliates, which is part of UnitedHealth Group's Optum division, is facing charges of collusion for allegedly agreeing with competitors to not poach senior-level employees.
- Google and Amazon are reportedly furthering their entrance into the health products market by working on projects using radar technology to help monitor users' sleep.
- Meditech expanded its EHR with Quick Vaccination, a digital tool that quickly documents and notifies state health systems of immunizations, which can speed up healthcare organizations' vaccination efforts.
- Apple and Cambridge, Mass.-based neurological therapies company Biogen will research how the Apple Watch and iPhone could help monitor cognitive health.
- The Washington State Department of Health partnered with Microsoft to launch a vaccine dashboard next week that will feature data on vaccine ordering and administration broken down by county and demographics.
- Microsoft also teamed up with the Oklahoma State Department of Health to build a mobile app that informs people when they are eligible for a COVID-19 vaccine and helps them sign up for an appointment.
- Cerner suspended political donations to lawmakers who "took part in or incited violence" after supporters of President Donald Trump attacked the Capitol on Jan. 6.
- YouTube unveiled a new healthcare initiative focused on creating credible health content across its platform with collaborators including the Cleveland Clinic, Mayo Clinic and American Public Health Association.
- The Federal Trade Commission reached a settlement with Flo Health, a fertility and period health tracking app, for allegedly sharing users' personal data with companies, including Facebook, when it promised such information would be kept private.