Microsoft Initiates Program Aimed at Health Care

Microsoft has initiated a new program to push its software into the health-care industry, the company announced at the World Health Care Congress, which begins Monday in Washington, D.C.

Microsoft said 22 other software vendors and health-care companies are backing Knowledge Driven Health Plans, an initiative that it says aims to improve service and decrease costs.

The goal, Microsoft said, is to allow different health-care organizations to exchange information across disparate IT systems. The move is not unlike efforts in many other industries that seek IT systems to more easily share information.

The plans are focused on Microsoft products and technologies such as .Net 2.0, BizTalk Server, the Windows Server System, SQL Server and Microsoft Office 2007.

The company emphasized using standards such as XML for applications to securely exchange information over the Internet.

The 22 partners include Hewlett-Packard, Tata Consultancy Services and Infosys Technologies.

— Jeremy Kirk, IDG News Service

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