Microsoft Cloud for Healthcare launches Oct. 30

In May, Microsoft announced its new Cloud for Heathcare service, but it was only available in preview. The full details and launch date were unclear. At Ignite 2020, Microsoft fully unveiled its health-care-focused cloud and its Oct. 30 launch date. 

When it debuts on Oct. 30, one of the Microsoft Cloud for Heathcare’s focal points will be to enhance patient engagement. The new cloud service will pull this off in part by allowing patients to self-schedule appointments, search for physicians, perform wellness outreaches, set care reminders and interact with care agents, patient portals and virtual health bots online.

There are also many features that’ll help streamline the process for health care providers, including: 

• Patient 360 based on HL7 FHIR, which gives health care providers full context into patient history, encounters, conditions, procedures and appointments. This is built in a heath care common data model, based on HL7 FHIR and integrates with Azure FHIR service. 
• Providing health care providers real-time data to build personalized patient outreach programs that create proactive care experiences.
• Helping teams create actionable insights across care plans and interactions with individual patients. This ensures patient needs and preferences are known and addressed.
• Optimizing resource management, planning and health team efficiency to assign the right health care worker to fit the patient’s needs. 

Microsoft also announced specific Microsoft Teams templates for health care workers and Microsoft Teams EHR, whch is in preview phase. The latter will allow clinicians and patients to launch Teams virtual visits right from Epic’s patient and provider portals. A set of APIs will also enable Teams integration into existing health care systems. 

Other features include the soon-to-arrive appointment-confirmation texts to patients, a smart-tracking system called Lists for Teams, and more. 

Microsoft plans to continue expanding and supporting its health care partner ecosystem, which is critical amid the coronavirus pandemic. We’ll continue monitoring the growth of the Microsoft Cloud for Heathcare service and bring updates as they come.