IBM strikes $500 million tech deal with Kaiser

ARMONK, NY: IBM Corp will help provide members of the Kaiser Permanente health care program with up-to-date online medical data as part of a

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seven-year, $500 million technology-services contract disclosed on Monday.

IBM called it one of the largest service contracts ever awarded in the health care industry. Armonk-based IBM will manage Kaiser's data center operations, storage and software.

The outsourcing means 700 Kaiser employees will lose their jobs, though some might be eligible to work for IBM, the company said.

The deal aims to improve the infrastructure behind Kaiser's HealthConnect, which links the group's facilities in one electronic system for providing medical services and health information online. IBM says about 14,000 doctors and other caregivers access the system daily and about 2.7 million members have access to their health records through the system.