HCA Healthcare partners with Google Cloud to accelerate digital transformation

Today, HCA Healthcare and Google Cloud announced a multi-year strategic partnership that plans to build on HCA Healthcare’s innovative use of information technology to accelerate the digital transformation taking place within our organization.

The partnership with Google Cloud is designed to help create a secure and dynamic data analytics platform for HCA Healthcare and enable the development of next generation operational models focused on actionable insights and improved workflows.

While protecting patient privacy and the security of data, HCA Healthcare uses information from our 32 million annual encounters to identify opportunities to improve clinical care and support its 93,000 nurses and 47,000 active and affiliated physicians. HCA Healthcare has published studies in leading medical journals like the New England Journal of Medicine and The Lancet, developed algorithm-informed decision support tools for caregivers, and identified clinical practices that reduce infections and improve perinatal care. The partnership with Google Cloud is expected to enhance efforts by HCA Healthcare to continue to improve and develop new advanced decision support to promote quality, safety, and efficiency.

“Next-generation care demands data science-informed decision support so we can more sharply focus on safe, efficient and effective patient care,” said Sam Hazen, chief executive officer of HCA Healthcare. “We view partnerships with leading organizations, like Google Cloud, that share our passion for innovation and continual improvement as foundational to our efforts.”

HCA Healthcare has deployed 90,000 mobile devices that run tools created by the organization’s PatientKeeper and Mobile Heartbeat teams and other developers to empower caregivers as they work. In combination with significant investments in mobility to support clinical care, the partnership with Google Cloud is expected to empower physicians, nurses and others with workflow tools, analysis and alerts on their mobile devices to help clinicians respond quickly to changes in a patient’s condition. The partnership will also focus on impacting non-clinical support areas that may benefit from improved workflows through better use of data and insights, such as supply chain, human resources and physical plant operations, among others.

“The cloud can be an accelerant for innovation in health, particularly in driving data interoperability, which is critical in streamlining operations and providing better quality of care to improve patient outcomes,” said Thomas Kurian, CEO, Google Cloud. “We are honored to partner with HCA Healthcare on this unique opportunity to be at the forefront of advancing care through the power of real-time data availability to support clinical and operational workflows.”

The partnership will utilize Google Cloud’s healthcare data offerings, including the Google Cloud Healthcare API and BigQuery, a planetary-scale database with full support for HL7v2 and FHIRv4 data standards, as well as HIPAA compliance. Google Cloud’s data, analytics, and AI offerings will power custom solutions for clinical and operational settings, built in partnership with Google Cloud’s Office of the CTO and Google Cloud Professional Services. Privacy and security will be guiding principles throughout this partnership. The access and use of patient data will be addressed through the implementation of Google Cloud’s infrastructure along with HCA Healthcare’s layers of security controls and processes.

Google Cloud provides organizations with leading infrastructure, platform capabilities and industry solutions. We deliver enterprise-grade cloud solutions that leverage Google’s cutting-edge technology to help companies operate more efficiently and adapt to changing needs, giving customers a foundation for the future. Customers in more than 150 countries turn to Google Cloud as their trusted partner to solve their most critical business problems.

Founded in 1968, Nashville-based HCA Healthcare is one of the nation’s leading providers of healthcare services with 186 hospitals and approximately 2,000 ambulatory sites of care, including surgery centers, freestanding ERs, urgent care centers and physician clinics, in 20 states and the United Kingdom.