Microsoft Launches First Cloud Services Designed For Healthcare

The corona crisis triggered a moderate earthquake in healthcare. However, this does not mean the direct Covid-19 consequences, but the fact that during the lockdown, essential doctor visits were not made by phone or via the Internet.

Like so many other areas of life, the healthcare system has had to adapt to the new situation, and here, too, digitization has been rapidly implemented in some places. What was viewed with a lot of skepticism was suddenly a new normal. The Redmond company also writes that the world will never be the same again after this pandemic, and that also applies to the healthcare system.

Healthcare in transition

Because patients do not have the same access to health care as before, which forces everyone to try new solutions. This is also the reason why Microsoft is launching the first industry-specific cloud offering: Microsoft Cloud for Healthcare. As the group announced at the Build conference, this solution is now available as a public preview, and the service can also be tried out as a free trial offer over the next six months.

Medicine and healthcare receive a service tailored to their needs, from which patients and professionals should benefit. Important points include patient engagement, collaboration, operational and clinical data analysis, and of course security as well as trust in the platform.

Benefits for patients and doctors

Thanks to Microsoft cloud and tools, individualized treatment plans can be created for individual patients or groups, and everything is independent of the respective device. This should also make virtual visits to the doctor, the use of special chatbots, and remote monitoring of vital signs normal.

Incidentally, the Microsoft Healthcare Bot has been used in the fight against Covid-19 for a few weeks, there are currently around 1,500 variants around the world. Of course, such a bot does not replace a doctor, but it can relieve the system a bit.

The cloud-based networking should also optimize the processes in the healthcare system, transfers, and searches for specialists should be easier and less complicated. Thanks to cloud-based systems, patients can also make appointments online, set reminders for them, and also contact the responsible authorities much more easily.

The Internet of Things (IoT) also plays a central role. Data that is recorded outside (e.g. via smartwatches) can trigger long-term therapies, but also short-term treatments.

Microsoft as an international lead role model

Microsoft Cloud for Healthcare is, of course, an offer that is aimed primarily and primarily at US healthcare providers. In Germany and other European countries, there would certainly be numerous data protection concerns, but sooner or later the local health systems will have to develop step by step towards online solutions. And the Microsoft solution should be a good example.