A new GE project dubbed "healthymagination" will put $3 billion over six years into research and development to launch at least 100 innovations aimed at providing better healthcare while cutting costs.
GE Chairman and CEO Jeffrey Immelt announced the global initiative Thursday at a news conference in the nation's capital.
Immelt said the company would also commit $2 billion in financing and $1 billion in related GE technology and content to drive healthcare information technology in rural and underserved areas. It includes a new TV program on MSNBC, low-cost X-ray machines, an advisory board that includes two former Senate Majority leaders (Tom Daschle and Bill Frist) and partnerships with leading healthcare systems Intermountain Health and the Mayo Clinic.
"We will invest in innovations that measurably improve cost, access and quality," Immelt said. "That means lower-cost technology for more customers, products matched to specific local needs and process expertise to help customers win. This reflects the new opportunities we see in healthcare. Our newest innovations – low-cost digital x-ray machines, portable ultrasounds, more affordable cardiac equipment – will save costs for doctors, hospitals, the government, families and businesses. This will help level the playing field in healthcare."
"With our technology, rural and urban areas and developing countries can have access to the best technology, affordably," Immelt added.
Healthymagination will draw on the capabilities of GE Healthcare, GE Capital, GE Water, NBC Universal and the GE Global Research Center as well as the GE Foundation, the philanthropic arm of GE.
"This is the right time to reposition our healthcare business, given the changes and challenges in the industry," said GE Healthcare President and CEO John Dineen. "Our customers are looking for productivity and solutions. We will focus on the products, the process excellence and the partnerships that broaden access to healthcare and reduce its cost."
According to GE, the innovations will:
- Reduce by 15 percent the cost of procedures and processes with GE technologies and services.
- Increase by 15 percent access to services and technologies essential for health, reaching 100 million more people every year.
- Improve quality and efficiency by 15 percent for customers through simplifying and refining healthcare procedures and standards of care.
GE officials also promised to make health IT faster and more productive by increasing the use and capability of electronic medical record technology and other information technology that speed communications, limit variation and control costs.
Company officials announced two new initiatives:
- GE, Intermountain Healthcare and the Mayo Clinic have developed physician decision support through IT in the form of evidence-based care and said they will launch it commercially in 2010.
- GE Capital will provide $2 billion in financing to help health providers in rural and underserved areas access innovations that improve health and reduce the cost of care. GE will focus financing to assist in the adoption of EMRs and health information exchanges (HIEs). GE's financing will help healthcare systems adopt EMRs and HIEs before 2011 in time to qualify for federal financial incentives.
