Here are 10 recent news updates on key health IT companies.
1. IBM Watson Health plans to acquire Truven Health Analytics for $2.6 billion, a deal which upon completion will aggregate health-related data of approximately 300 million patient lives.
2. A pilot program partnership between Boston-based Harvard Medical School, IBM Watson, Anthem Blue Cross and GenieMD has produced Harvard Health Info, an app that enables patients to get treatment recommendations via a symptom checker and access health information through an 'Ask Watson' function, among other features.
3. McKesson Ventures, the venture capital arm of McKesson, has made a strategic investment in PokitDok, a company providing a development platform of application programming interfaces to process healthcare business transactions, like eligibility checks, claims, scheduling and payments.
4. Kansas City, Mo.-based Cerner reported significant revenue growth during fiscal year 2015 that ended Jan. 2, reaching $4.43 billion, a 30 percent increase from FY 2014's $3.4 billion.
5. Two hospitals renewed their IT service contracts with McKesson: Chicago-based Saint Anthony Hospital and Cookeville (Tenn.) Regional Medical Center.
6. Allscripts and Cerner were among five health IT vendors who had the greatest increases in year-to-year hospital customer loyalty, according to Black Book.
7. Among the vendors projected to have the largest booths at HIMSS are Cerner, Epic, GE Healthcare, McKesson and Allscripts.
8. Angie Stanland, vice president of associate services and recruiting at Cerner, was elected as the 2016 chairwoman of the American Royal Association.
9. HIMSS attendees will be able to see a demonstration of the EHR Cerner is developing for the Department of Defense.
10. The recently appointed head of IBM's Cognitive Business Solutions group stepped down from his position.
More articles on health IT:
Hackers shut down Hollywood Presbyterian Medical Center IT systems, demand $3.6M ransom
Praise, criticism & everything in between: 14 physicians sound off on EHRs
Epic recognized for work perks; Cerner launches app development website; athenahealth posts 23 percent year-over-year revenue increase — 10 health IT key notes