San Francisco, May 20 (IANS): As Covid-19 impacts every aspect of the healthcare system, Microsoft has announced a dedicated Cloud for Healthcare, its first industry-specific cloud offering which is now available in public preview and through a free trial for the next six months.

According to the company, Microsoft Cloud for Healthcare will bring together capabilities for customers and partners to enrich patient engagement, connect caregiving teams, and improve collaboration, decision-making and operational efficiencies.

"Microsoft Cloud for Healthcare will support capabilities such as the new Bookings app in Teams, now generally available to customers across industries to help schedule, manage and conduct business-to-consumer virtual appointments," said Tom Mcguinness, Corporate Vice President, Worldwide Health, Microsoft.

Microsoft Cloud for Healthcare offers enhanced patient engagement, empower health team collaboration and improve operational and clinical data insights.

Healthcare organisations can use Microsoft Cloud for Healthcare to extend the value of Microsoft Dynamics 365 Marketing, Dynamics 365 Customer Service, and Azure IoT to deploy consumer-friendly patient experience, connected physician and referral management and enhance patient engagement portals.

"As we've seen during the COVID-19 pandemic, clinicians also need greater flexibility and convenience in how they are able to connect with patients. Today we are announcing general availability of the Bookings app in Teams, which enables healthcare providers to schedule, manage, and conduct provider-to-patient virtual visits within Teams," said Microsoft.