Microsoft ‘Amalgamates’ Healthcare Offerings

Microsoft is on a health kick. No – that doesn’t meant that CEO Steve Ballmer has taken up jogging.

Instead, in the last year or so, the company has acquired several health-related products and companies. That includes medical information software developer Azyxxi, and Global Care Solutions (GCS), a privately held company based in Bangkok, Thailand that develops software for running hospitals.

Now Microsoft is taking the first steps to bring them under the same aegis by rebranding them all under a common name — the Microsoft Amalga Family of Health Enterprise Systems.

“The name ‘Amalga’ is based on the Latin word ‘amalgama,’ meaning to bring together different elements,” according to a company statement.

Under the new naming scheme, Azyxxi has been rebranded Microsoft Amalga. A second product, previously known as Hospital 2000 and originally part of GCS, has been renamed Amalga Hospital Information System.

[cob:Related_Articles]Additionally, another component of GCS, previously named GCS Amalga is now called Microsoft Amalga radiology information system and picture archiving and communication system (RIS/PACS). GCS Amalga can now be purchased either as a stand-alone system or integrated with Amalga HIS.

Microsoft plans to demonstrate the rebranded products at the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS) 2008 conference being held in Orlando, Fla., February 24 through 28.

More on Microsoft’s Amalga products can be found here.

Last fall, Microsoft also launched an online site called Healthvault that lets users keep their own medical records and perform Internet searches for health-oriented information.

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