Microsoft to Acquire Innovative Healthcare Technology and Assets From Global Care Solutions

BANGKOK, Thailand, October 29 /PRNewswire/ --

- Collaborative alliance with Bumrungrad International Hospital
in Bangkok will help bring enterprise-class health information system
solutions to market around the world.

BANGKOK, Thailand, October 29 /PRNewswire/ --

Building on a worldwide commitment to improving health through software
technology, Microsoft Corp. has agreed to acquire software, intellectual
property and other assets from Global Care Solutions (GCS), a privately held
company based in Bangkok, Thailand, that develops enterprise-class health
information systems. The acquisition complements Microsoft's already strong
portfolio of health solutions and will provide hospitals across international
markets with a new alternative to achieve improved workflow and patient
safety through information technology. GCS employees will join Microsoft's
Health Solutions Group, which will manage product development and delivery.
Financial terms were not disclosed.

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"We were impressed by Global Care Solutions' state-of-the-art health
information system, which has enabled a hugely complex facility like
Bumrungrad International hospital to achieve amazing outcomes related to
improved workflow and patient safety," said Peter Neupert, corporate vice
president for the Health Solutions Group at Microsoft. "The international,
fully integrated nature of the GCS technology, and the fact that it is built
from the ground up on scalable Microsoft technology, makes this a great
addition to our portfolio of health enterprise products as we look to power
developing and emerging hospital systems around the globe."

Global Care Solutions designed and developed its end-to-end system in
collaboration with Bumrungrad, an internationally accredited facility based
in Bangkok. The hospital, which treats more than 1.2 million patients from
190 countries each year, uses the GCS solution to efficiently manage clinical
workflow, billing, regulatory compliance and medical records. Microsoft will
continue to work closely with Bumrungrad to further build out the
functionality and features of the GCS technology.

"We have a diverse patient population at Bumrungrad, with over 400,000
foreign patients every year; half of the 3,200 patients we see each day
arrive without appointments," said Mack Banner, the chief executive officer
of the hospital. "The GCS solution has allowed us to manage scheduling
demands, multiple languages and medical records so efficiently that the
average waiting time to see a doctor is only 17 minutes. The GCS software is
a key to our service delivery, medical quality and financial performance, and
we look forward to collaborating with Microsoft on extending its applications
across our organization."

The offering from GCS, which has been on the market since 2000, won a
Microsoft Certified Partner award for Data Management Solution of the Year in
2003 as an industry-leading acute care, clinical-patient information
solution. Global Care Solution's system is a fully integrated suite of 50
clinical and back-office application modules designed and optimized to run
all hospital clinical and administrative operations on Microsoft Windows
Server 2003 and Microsoft SQL Server 2005. It is implemented and in use in
seven hospitals around the Asia-Pacific region. The new Microsoft offering
based on the GCS technology will complement the company's current Azyxxi
solution, which provides a data integration capability for hospitals with
legacy systems already in place.

"We have been developing this product passionately for several years and
are thrilled to see a company with the resources of Microsoft poised to bring
it to a bigger world stage," said Pat Downing, CEO of Global Care Solutions.
"This is the perfect time in our company's history to accelerate worldwide
availability and allow our product to bring new light to health organizations
across the globe, where the deployment of information technology can
translate directly to better healthcare and, ultimately, healthier people."

Founded in 1975, Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT) is the worldwide leader in
software, services and solutions that help people and businesses realize
their full potential.

Web site: http://www.microsoft.com