IBM buys Truven Health for $2.6 billion

IBM is raising its medical profile with the $2.6 billion acquisition of health care data company Truven Health Analytics.

The deal, the tech giant's largest under CEO Ginni Rometty, brings Truven's health care data cache to IBM's Watson Health unit and its cloud computing medical data platform. The Ann Arbor, Mich.-based Truven has its own cloud-based data system encompassing more than 8,500 health care systems, hospitals, employers and government agencies.

This makes IBM's fourth major health data acquisition in less than 12 months, totaling more than $4 billion, the company said. It acquired cloud-based health care intelligence firm Explorys in April 2015, health management software firm Phytel a month later, and medical imaging provider Merge Healthcare in October 2015.

The deal is expected to close by the end of the year.

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