Microsoft Buys Thai Health Info Software Maker

October 29, 2007 1:28 p.m. EST

Bangkok, Thailand (AHN) - Microsoft announced Monday it will buy a Thai health software company specializing in hospital administration applications.

Peter Neupert, vice president of Microsoft's Health Solutions Group, said the company's acquisition of Bangkok-based Global Care Solutions Ltd. (GCS) is its third purchase of a health-care software vendor in the past 13 months and is one more step to building the Microsoft health-care business, reports PC World.

GCS software features include patient scheduling, billing, clinical work-flow, regulatory compliance and medical record-keeping. The software, based on Microsoft applications, has already been implemented in seven hospitals in the Asia-Pacific region.

The medical applications were developed in close collaboration with Bumrungrad International Hospital which has requirement for specialized record keeping. The hospital sees over 1.2 million patients every year, of whom 400,000 are foreigners from around 190 countries. This means varying language, insurance and billing data is needed.

Half of the hospital's 3,000-plus daily patients walk in without an appointment yet the waiting time has been reduced, on average, to 17 minutes.

Microsoft, along with GCS, will continue working closely with Bumrungrad Hospital to tweak and improve the technology so that progress is made in hospital care.

GCS development will remain in Thailand and Microsoft has signaled that it will retain existing employees after the acquisition.

Neupert said Microsoft will acquire software, intellectual property and other assets of GCS enabling it to market the software globally. The company's focus will be on selling GCS software in hospitals in emerging countries, requiring only a minimal investment in computer hardware.