Photo: Rusty Russell/Getty Images HCA Healthcare on Wednesday announced a new multiyear strategic partnership with Google Cloud focused on analytics-driven process improvement and digital transformation. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. WHY IT MATTERS The partnership between the cloud giant and Nashville-based HCA, with its 186 hospitals and 2,000 ambulatory sites nationwide, is aimed at building "next generation operational models focused on actionable insights and improved workflows," according to health system officials. The goal is to build and refine new workflows and innovate clinical decision support to improve quality, safety and efficiency. Beyond that, the partnership is meant to empower physicians and nurses with deeper insights – via 90,000 mobile devices already running software from HCA's PatientKeeper and Mobile Heartbeat teams – with analytics and alerts that can keep them apprised of changes in a patients' condition.