Microsoft to Acquire Global Care Solutions

Microsoft is buying Global Care Solutions, a privately held enterprise health information software company based in Bangkok, Thailand.

The acquisition, announced Oct. 29, will allow international hospitals to achieve improved workflow and patient safety through information technology, Microsoft said in a statement. GCS employees will join Microsofts Health Solutions group, which will manage production and delivery, the statement said. The financial terms of the agreement were not disclosed.

GCS designs and develops a clinical workflow, billing, regulatory compliance and medical records management system in collaboration with Bumrungrad, a health care facility based in Bangkok, the companies said. The software is being used in seven hospitals in the Asia-Pacific region, including Bumrungrad, the statement said.

According to the statement, the software suite includes 50 clinical and back-office application modules that run all hospital clinical and administrative operations on Microsoft Windows Server 2003 and Microsoft SQL Server 2005.

Microsoft officials said the GCS offering will help power emerging and developing hospitals worldwide.

They said the Bumrungrad hospital, which treats more than 1.2 million patients from 190 countries each year, uses the GCS solution to manage clinical workflow, billing, regulatory compliance and medical records. Microsoft, of Redmond, Wash., will continue to work with GCS to increase and enhance the softwares functionality, the company said.

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