Seattle healthcare data startup Truveta lands investment from Microsoft and forms partnership

Truveta CEO Terry Myerson. (Truveta photo)

Seattle-based Truveta will use Microsoft’s Azure cloud platform to analyze health data as part of a new partnership with the software giant announced on Wednesday.

Microsoft is also investing an undisclosed amount in Truveta, which emerged from stealth mode last year and already employs more than 100 people.

Truveta has access to health data through its 17 members of the healthcare system, which make up 15% of the United States. Microsoft and Truveta will work together to build Truveta’s customer base and membership in the Truveta healthcare system.

Truveta CEO is Terry Myerson, a former Microsoft executive who led the company’s Windows and Devices group before leaving in 2018 after a 21-year career with the tech giant.

“He understands the company, he understands the DNA, he understands the values,” said Tom McGuinness, Microsoft’s corporate vice president, Global Healthcare and Life Sciences, in an interview with GeekWire. “We have a deep confidence in our business model orientation.”

Tom McGuinness, Microsoft’s Corporate Vice President of Global Healthcare and Life Sciences. (Microsoft photo)

The partnership follows a $ 95 million investment in Truveta in July by its healthcare partners. Including Providence, Washington State’s largest healthcare system, which helped found the company.

Truveta bundles anonymized data from these providers, which cover most states and a racially and ethnically diverse population.

Health data is in demand from medical providers as well as pharmaceutical companies and academic researchers who are developing new tools and treatments. Linking treatments to outcomes and underlying health can enable researchers to better understand the effectiveness of health interventions.

Ultimately, Truveta will enable researchers “to learn how to better treat patients and help families make more informed decisions about their care,” Myerson told GeekWire. Truveta will not use the data for targeted advertising to patients or doctors.

The company’s goal is also to build capabilities to analyze data in real time. The pandemic has highlighted the need for such an approach that can allow researchers to quickly identify which interventions are most effective.

Researchers in the health systems of Truveta members are starting to query the records that may become available for broader use by customers within months.

McGuinness said that Truveta’s data will create value in three ways. “First, clinicians will be able to use existing therapies to make better decisions for their patients. Second, it will enable pharmaceutical companies to develop better therapies for tomorrow, ”said McGuinness. “Ultimately, it will help payers ensure that the reimbursement really helps deliver the best health outcomes to their members.”

Truveta health partner. (Truveta image)

Truveta takes privacy seriously and anonymizes data in accordance with US government guidelines. “It’s a huge amount of data and an enormous responsibility,” said Myerson.

The data is stored on Microsoft’s cloud platform in partnership with Microsoft Cloud for Healthcare. This service combines Microsoft’s cloud services such as Microsoft 365, Teams and Azure with components developed for the healthcare industry.

The Microsoft platform offers storage flexibility and scalability, as well as advanced analytics and developer tools, said McGuinness, who joined the technology giant last year after serving as president and CEO of GE Healthcare Imaging. Existing Microsoft customers include Humana, Allscripts, Premera Blue Cross, the UK’s National Health Service and the pharmaceutical company Novartis.

“AI is the top priority of technology and healthcare is its top application,” said Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella in a video. “There is an incredible opportunity to turn the huge amount of health data that is generated every day into insights for researchers, clinicians, and most importantly, patients.”

The software giant also has prospects to help Truveta grow, Myerson said. Microsoft is a “partner with global reach and global thoughts on security audits and global thoughts on data protection,” he said. This will help Truveta expand its international presence.

“Truveta is dynamic in the United States,” added Myerson. But by signing new health partners in the rest of the word, the company can provide more comprehensive data sets on human health. “This is a global opportunity. We want to include the whole diversity of the planet. “