Caradigm and the Future of Healthcare IT

Bryce Istvan | Seeking Alpha | February 14, 2012

Microsoft (MSFT) and General Electric (GE) have begun finalizing the details for their healthcare IT joint venture called Caradigm. The venture is "aimed at driving a paradigm shift in the delivery of care by enabling health systems and professionals to use real-time, systemwide intelligence to improve healthcare quality and the patient experience." Originally announced in December, the new company will begin operations in the first half of this year...

...By combining forces the two companies hope to "combine Microsoft's deep expertise in building platforms and ecosystems with GE Healthcare's experience in clinical and administrative workflow solutions." Each company is contributing its own intellectual property to the venture with Microsoft's healthcare division providing Microsoft Amalga, an enterprise health intelligence platform, Microsoft Vergence, a single sign-on and context management solution and Microsoft expreSSO, an enterprise single sign-on solution. GE Healthcare will provide its eHealth and Qualibria products. In addition to the joint venture, both companies will continue to sell their own independent healthcare solutions.

One major thing to note is the apparent commitment to keeping the jointly developed platform open source...