IBM has been on a tear in healthcare since it formed its Watson Health business last April. Now, in its fourth major health data deal it's slated to acquire Ann Arbor, MI-based Truven Health Analytics. The acquisition is expected to help flesh out Watson Health's core focus on cloud-based healthcare data and analytics.
Once this deal closes, Watson Health will have spent more than $4 billion in total for this and its other purchases including population health player Phytel, cloud-based healthcare intelligence company Explorys and medical image management company Merge Healthcare for a whopping $1 billion. As a result of those three prior deals, Watson Health now reaches into an estimated 300 million patient lives.