Microsoft to Acquire Innovative Healthcare Technology and Assets From Global Care Solutions

Microsoft to Acquire Innovative Healthcare Technology and Assets From Global Care Solutions

October 29, 2007

Collaborative alliance with Bumrungrad International
Hospital in Bangkok will help bring enterprise-class health
information system solutions to market around the world.

    BANGKOK, Thailand, Oct. 29 /Xinhua-PRNewswire/ --
Building on a worldwide commitment to improving health
through software technology, Microsoft Corp. has agreed to
acquire software, intellectual property and other assets
from Global Care Solutions (GCS), a privately held company
based in Bangkok, Thailand, that develops enterprise-class
health information systems. The acquisition complements
Microsoft's already strong portfolio of health solutions
and will provide hospitals across international markets
with a new alternative to achieve improved workflow and
patient safety through information technology. GCS
employees will join Microsoft's Health Solutions Group,
which will manage product development and delivery.
Financial terms were not disclosed.

    (Logo:
http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20000822/MSFTLOGO )

    "We were impressed by Global Care Solutions'
state-of-the-art health information system, which has
enabled a hugely complex facility like Bumrungrad
International hospital to achieve amazing outcomes related
to improved workflow and patient safety," said Peter
Neupert, corporate vice president for the Health Solutions
Group at Microsoft. "The international, fully
integrated nature of the GCS technology, and the fact that
it is built from the ground up on scalable Microsoft
technology, makes this a great addition to our portfolio of
health enterprise products as we look to power developing
and emerging hospital systems around the globe."

    Global Care Solutions designed and developed its
end-to-end system in collaboration with Bumrungrad, an
internationally accredited facility based in Bangkok. The
hospital, which treats more than 1.2 million patients from
190 countries each year, uses the GCS solution to
efficiently manage clinical workflow, billing, regulatory
compliance and medical records. Microsoft will continue to
work closely with Bumrungrad to further build out the
functionality and features of the GCS technology. 

    "We have a diverse patient population at
Bumrungrad, with over 400,000 foreign patients every year;
half of the 3,200 patients we see each day arrive without
appointments," said Mack Banner, the chief executive
officer of the hospital. "The GCS solution has allowed
us to manage scheduling demands, multiple languages and
medical records so efficiently that the average waiting
time to see a doctor is only 17 minutes. The GCS software
is a key to our service delivery, medical quality and
financial performance, and we look forward to collaborating
with Microsoft on extending its applications across our
organization." 

    The offering from GCS, which has been on the market
since 2000, won a Microsoft Certified Partner award for
Data Management Solution of the Year in 2003 as an
industry-leading acute care, clinical-patient information
solution. Global Care Solution's system is a fully
integrated suite of 50 clinical and back-office application
modules designed and optimized to run all hospital clinical
and administrative operations on Microsoft Windows Server
2003 and Microsoft SQL Server 2005. It is implemented and
in use in seven hospitals around the Asia-Pacific region.
The new Microsoft offering based on the GCS technology will
complement the company's current Azyxxi solution, which
provides a data integration capability for hospitals with
legacy systems already in place.  

    "We have been developing this product passionately
for several years and are thrilled to see a company with the
resources of Microsoft poised to bring it to a bigger world
stage," said Pat Downing, CEO of Global Care
Solutions. "This is the perfect time in our company's
history to accelerate worldwide availability and allow our
product to bring new light to health organizations across
the globe, where the deployment of information technology
can translate directly to better healthcare and,
ultimately, healthier people."

    Founded in 1975, Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT) is the
worldwide leader in software, services and solutions that
help people and businesses realize their full potential.


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