A Microsoft initiative that produced apps to offer analysis and user insights based on personal health records from HealthVault, has been shut down by the company. It is removing apps associated with HealthVault Insights from iOS, Android and Windows app stores.
A statement on Microsoft’s website offered no explanation for the move, except to say that HealthVault Insights was merely a research project launched last year had come to an end:
We launched HealthVault Insights as a research project last year, with the goal of helping patients generate new insights about their health. Since then, we’ve learned a lot about how machine learning can be used to increase patient engagement and are now applying that knowledge to other projects. As part of this progression, we’ve made the decision to remove HealthVault Insights from the iOS, Android and Windows stores effective later this month. This change will have no impact on the data users generated in HealthVault Insights which will continue be accessible via the HealthVault website.
The move doesn’t seem to mean an end to Microsoft’s personal health record program, HealthVault. In 2016, Microsoft stopped offering an app for Windows mobile phones supporting HealthVault over what it said were compatibility problems in a letter to users.
As ZDNet pointed out, the research gathered from these apps could be applied to Microsoft’s Healthcare NExT projects, run by the company’s AI + Research Group. Microsoft officials have said HealthCare NExT’s mission is to provide personal health and wellness information to make healthcare “more proactive and holistic.”
