Microsoft launches Healthcare NExT, a new initiative to transform health care

Microsoft today announced several new health care related initiatives and solutions to help health industry partners and organizations to use intelligent technology to improve the lives of people around the world.

Healthcare NExT is a new initiative that will integrate research and health technology product development, as well as establish a new model at Microsoft for strategic health industry partnerships. Microsoft will give resources to its partners to apply AI to healthcare. Microsoft also announced Microsoft AI in Health Partner Alliance which is a group of partners focused on advancing health technology. Members of this alliance will receive unique training and access to Microsoft technologies, engineering expertise and data sets.

Microsoft today also announced a strategic research partnership with University of Pittsburgh Medical Center. Microsoft and UPMC will work on several projects, beginning with a focus on transforming clinician empowerment and productivity. In addition, Microsoft announced the following collaborations from Healthcare NExT partners,

• HealthVault Insights is a new research-based project designed to allow partners to generate new insights about patient health, drive adherence to care plans and encourage patient engagement powered by the latest scientific advances in machine learning.
• Microsoft Genomics is making the sample-to-answer process fast and easy through an Azure-powered genome analysis pipeline and an orchestrated ecosystem of innovative partners including BC Platforms and DNAnexus.
• Microsoft’s AI health chatbot technology is also a research-based project that will enable partners to build AI-powered conversational health care tools.
• Project InnerEye is a research-based, AI-powered software tool for radiotherapy planning. The goal of the project is to allow dosimetrists and radiation oncologists to achieve 3D contouring of patients’ planning scans in minutes rather than hours. The assistive AI technology gives experts full control of the output accuracy while enjoying high levels of consistency and potential cost savings.

Learn more about these announcements here.