Microsoft, Allscripts Dial Up Telehealth Growth

Microsoft and Chicago-based Allscripts are extending “their long-standing strategic alliance to enable the expanded development and delivery of cloud-based health IT solutions.” The move comes as the COVID-19 pandemic has moved telehealth into mainstream medicine.

In a press release, the companies said that “the five-year extension will support Allscripts’ cloud-based Sunrise electronic health record,” making Microsoft the cloud-computing provider. Allscripts and Microsoft said the alliance would allow for “co-innovation opportunities to help transform healthcare with smarter, more scalable technology.”

Allscripts CEO Paul Black said in the statement, “Healthcare delivery is no longer defined by location — providers need to have the capability to reach patients where they are to truly deliver the care they require.”

Researcher Frost & Sullivan has estimated that online medical appointments will reach 200 million this year, up from estimates of only 36 million.

John Jesser, president of clinical solutions at Amwell, told PYMNTS that telehealth “is really a great source for direct medical guidance, treatment and prescription ordering. And even though there is no prescription for this necessarily, a doctor monitors who needs to stay home and drink fluids and which patients look like they need to be in the ER so they can help make that happen. And now you’re not having 500 people walk into the same ER at once saying, ‘I have a fever.’”

Allscripts said that its Sunrise platform “connects all aspects of care, including acute, ambulatory, surgical, pharmacy, radiology and laboratory services,” along with a patient-administration setup. The company describes its Sunrise platform as “a clinician-friendly, evidence-based single platform with integrated analytics that helps deliver better health outcomes in hospitals around the world.”

The companies said their alliance “will enable Allscripts to harness the power of Microsoft’s platform and tools.” The announcement noted that “Allscripts is an award-winning Microsoft partner with past recognitions including 2019 U.S. Healthcare Partner of the Year and 2017 Global Healthcare Partner of the Year (Public Sector).”

The companies said Sunrise would, among other things, “provide enhanced security, scalability and flexibility, as well as the opportunity to add new capabilities quickly as business needs and the cloud evolve.”