Here's the latest roundup of stories about health information technology companies, including Microsoft, Google and Optum.
- Apple and Google on May 20 launched their interoperable API, designed to measure contact tracing using Bluetooth technology in smartphones, to help public health agencies rapidly track COVID-19 spread and notify individuals exposed to the virus.
- Google was sued by Arizona, which alleges the company violated state privacy laws by continuing to collect digital location information from smartphones even after users opted out.
- Microsoft teamed up with several London hospitals to provide select physicians with mixed-reality headsets to limit direct contact with COVID-19 patients.
- Amazon extended its telehealth benefits beyond its employees at Seattle-area offices to include warehouse workers near its headquarters.
- Microsoft rolled out its cloud for healthcare offering and said it would be the first of many at an RBC Capital Markets event May 20.
- Google recently developed an AI system that detects age-related macular degeneration in the eye and demonstrates the potential to predict the disease's progression.
- Allscripts and Meditech are joining the likes of Epic and Cerner by developing live artificial intelligence capabilities for their client bases, according to KLAS Research.
- Optum and Health Catalyst led a new funding round to invest millions in a data science and health technology company that is building a large real-world evidence platform for behavioral health and chronic diseases.
- Google sister company Verily launched the Baseline COVID-19 Research Project, which aims to study disease testing methods and antibodies as well as how the virus affects mental health.
- Optum acquired post-acute care management platform naviHealth, expecting the deal to total more than $1 billion.
- Amazon's next move could be a benefits marketplace for employers and payers, according to tech market intelligence platform CB Insights.
- Microsoft and UnitedHealth Group partnered to launch a new return-to-workplace protocol and COVID-19 symptom screening tool within an app for organizations returning employees from remote work.
- Google began providing a clinically certified questionnaire for all users who search for information about anxiety, a feature implemented to help address mental health concerns inflicted by pandemic-related stress.