Microsoft Corp is making a massive bet on health-care artificial intelligence. The software giant is set to buy Nuance Communications Inc., tapping the company tied to the Siri voice technology to overhaul solutions that free doctors from note-taking and better predict a patient’s needs. Microsoft may announce the deal as soon as Monday if talks are successful, according to people familiar with the matter.
Microsoft has been trying to make inroads into the health-care sector, selling more cloud software to hospitals and doctors. It has been working with Nuance for two years on AI software that helps clinicians capture patient discussions and integrate them into electronic health records, and combining the speech technology company’s products into its Teams chat app for telehealth appointments.
The “Nuance deal would be a trophy for Redmond,” said Wedbush analyst Dan Ives, referring to Redmond, Washington-based Microsoft. “Nuance is in the midst of an unprecedented strategic turnaround the last few years under the leadership of CEO Mark Benjamin and we believe the company represents a unique asset on the health-care front for Microsoft.”
