Redmond, Washington — Software maker Microsoft has recently been moving cautiously in an attempt to expand its software in to health-care industry, on Thursday announced that it has reached an agreement to acquire “Sentillion Inc.,” a privately held developer of software tools for the healthcare industry.
Perhaps most publicly with its HealthVault services aimed at hospitals, which empowers users to share and control access to their own medical records, healthcare organizations, and researchers, will evolve with products from Sentillion starting in 2010, the Redmond company announced.
Financial terms of the acquisition were not disclosed; But essentially, the software giant plans to leverage Sentillion’s products with the Amalga UIS, in order to streamline access to multiple IT applications, as well as sources of patient data.
“Microsoft and Sentillion share a common vision of a connected health system in which the free and rapid flow of information, combined with streamlined access to a hospital’s myriad healthcare applications, empowers doctors and nurses to perform their roles with greater insight, speed and effectiveness,” explained Peter Neupert, corporate vice president, Microsoft Health Solutions Group. “As a result, our products and strategies are a natural fit. Joining efforts with Sentillion will allow us to amplify and accelerate the impact we can make in health IT and health globally.”
The two companies are anticipating to finalize the deal in early 2010, and said that Sentillion would continue to provide existing customers with support, as well as sell new products, all from its current corporate headquarters in Andover.
Sentillion’s products include Vergence, a clinical workstation platform that streamlines caregivers’ access to applications and patient data, and Tap & Go and Tap2, which offers instant access to clinical applications with the “tap of a passive proximity badge,” and proVision automatic provisioning system, according to the company’s Website.
Microsoft officials said the acquisition will strengthen the company’s presence in the growing market for healthcare IT systems.
Microsoft said it intends to unite Sentillion’s context and single sign-on technologies into its Amalga UIS real-time data integration solution. The objective is to give physicians real-time access to patient information and other key, clinical data.
“With its commitment to enhancing health and the global resources it brings to bear, Microsoft is the perfect partner to expand our efforts worldwide,” said Sentillion CEO Robert Seliger, in a statement.
Sentillion’s application is designed to streamline information stored in a variety of copyrighted systems, including legacy applications, Windows systems, Unix-based servers, and even Web-based data sources.
The digitization of healthcare records and information is fast becoming a hot-button issue in both technological and political circles, since easy accessibility of medical information presents abundant opportunities of privacy abuses, misuse, and fraud. On the other hand, being able to access appropriate medical information quickly can literally be the difference between life and death in some cases, and many prevent common medical errors.
Microsoft’s commitment is that clinicians will be able to benefit from a boost in speed as well as increased insight in relation to patient data. Sentillion already caters to more than 1,000 hospitals in its customer base, where Microsoft’s relatively new Amalga system is running at a little over 100 hospitals.
Sentillion’s customers include University of Pennsylvania Health System, the U.S. Department of Veteran’s Affairs, Kettering Health Network, and Texas Children’s Hospital. Sentillion will continue to offer its products and operate out of its Massachusetts location, while Microsoft will work on combining the companies’ technologies.