Microsoft Acquired a Medical Search Company

Microsoft Corp. announced that it has agreed to acquire Medstory a privately held medical search company based in Foster City California that develops intelligent web search technology specifically for health information.

" To us, providing intelligent search means supporting an understanding of both a user's intent behind a search and the results that are delivered. For a field like health and medicine, we believe that search engines should deliver more to users than just a list of Web pages. Our approach is to try to synthesize the meaning of every user search in the context of health and medicine, and then share this knowledge with the user to help refine and guide their search. " - Medstory

The company's employees will join with the recently formed Health Solutions Group of Microsoft that will manage product development and delivery. The amount of the acquisition was not disclosed by both companies as part of their agreement.

" At Microsoft, we are focused on enabling people to make the best decisions. We were impressed with the ability of Medstory’s unique technology to organize and surface the most relevant online health content, which empowers consumers who are trying to find the right information about an important life event " - Peter Neupert, Corporate Vice President for health strategy and leader of the Health Solutions Group.

Unlike results from most search engines, Medstory’s results are based on intuitive search technology, which provides pre qualified information to consumers and health professionals conducting health-related research. This unique approach provides users with intelligent guides to help refine and better target their searches. Users receive organized content that is more relevant to their search criteria and that enables better health-related decisions.

" Instead of trying to force people to think in terms of the way a computer searches, we’re enabling computers to more intuitively conduct searches in the way that people think. With Microsoft’s global reach and experience, I look forward to this soon becoming a standard for online searches in health and medicine. ” - Dr. Alain Rapport, M.D., Ph.D., CEO and founder of Medstory

Dr. Rappaport will assume the role of general manager of health search in the Health Solutions Group after the acquisition closes.