Microsoft (MSFT) acquires Nuance Communication Inc. at $16 billion dollar, which signals that Microsoft taps into healthcare systems. Nuance Communications Inc has sold its software including speech-recognition to healthcare systems and providers who document clinical records by dictation (Winkler & Tilley, 2021, April 13).

Nuance builds language processing software including medical terminology, which allows Microsoft to include medical terms into its collaboration software package: Teams and to sell cloud-computing service.

According to Brent Thill at Jefferies (Winkler & Tilley, 2021, April 13), healthcare is a paper-based, manual, terrible industry riddled with inefficiency, which is a great opportunity to global cloud-computing service providers: Microsoft, Apple, Amazon.com Inc., and Alphabet Inc.

Amazon (AMZN) entered into healthcare sector since it bought online pharmacy PillPack for $1 billion in 2017. In March 2021, Amazon said it would offer telehealth services nationwide. On the other hand, Amazon ended its healthcare venture that started in 2018 to find a way to reduce medical costs for their 1.5 million employees for Berkshire Hathaway Inc., JPMorgan Chase & Co., and Amazon.

Google (GOOGL) has been working with two medical systems to make health records searchable for doctors. However, recently, there was skepticism to Google’s gaining access to medical records which worries privacy advocates and patient groups. In addition,  Google bought Fitbit at $2.1 billion and trace fitness activity using its wristband.

Apple (AAPL) has been selling its devices to healthcare providers and mobile apps to track exercise activity including heart rhythms, heart beats, total steps per day, walking distance, etc. In addition, it enables users to keep their sleeping pattern and records.

Reference:

Winkler, R. & Tilley, A. (2021, April 13). Microsoft’s Nuance Gambit Shows Healthcare Is Shaping Up as Next Tech Battleground, Wall Street Journal, retrieved from: https://www.wsj.com/articles/microsofts-nuance-gambit-shows-healthcare-is-next-tech-battleground-11618314585