Microsoft has completed its $19.7 billion acquisition of Nuance Communications.

The companies officially merged Friday after getting clearance earlier in the week from the U.K.’s Competition and Markets Authority, according to Seeking Alpha. The approval was the last the two needed to move forward with their all-cash payment deal, which is valued at $16 billion, plus an additional $3.7 billion in net debt.

Through the agreement, Nuance’s speech and conversational AI software will be integrated into the Microsoft Cloud for Healthcare technology to help providers improve productivity and financial performance as well as enhance patient experiences and better manage healthcare data at scale.

“Completion of this significant and strategic acquisition brings together Nuance’s best-in-class conversational AI and ambient intelligence with Microsoft’s secure and trusted industry cloud offerings,” said Scott Guthrie, executive vice president of Cloud + AI Group at Microsoft, in a statement. “This powerful combination will help providers offer more affordable, effective and accessible healthcare and help organizations in every industry create more personalized and meaningful customer experiences.”

The combination of both companies’ technologies is expected to automate note transcription for doctors and accelerate the adoption of cloud-based AI tools for providers. The two previously struck up a partnership in 2019 to automate clinical administration work including documentation, before deciding to become one company in April 2021.

Nuance’s products include the Dragon Ambient eXperience, Dragon Medical One and PowerScribe One for radiology reporting. All are built on Microsoft Azure and designed to recognize and transcribe speech in doctor office visits, customer service calls and voicemails. They can seamlessly integrate with EHRs to reduce clinical documentation and help providers create better patient experiences. They will also be used alongside Microsoft’s Azure, Teams and Dynamics 365 solutions to support customer engagement and enhance security.

Revenue at Nuance was approximately $1.5 billion in 2020, with 61.9% coming from its healthcare segment, according to the Boston Business Journal.

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