GE today unveiled its new “healthymagination” business strategy, which will dramatically expand the company’s healthcare business through 2015. A key component is the investment of $3 billion in R&D over the next six years in a specific portfolio of more than 100 innovations designed to lower costs and improve healthcare access and quality. In addition, GE is committing $2 billion of financing and $1 billion in related GE technology to drive healthcare information technology and health in rural and underserved areas.
All aboard: GE wants to increase people’s access to health services, technologies and education, touching more than 100 million lives in a new way, every year. |
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Makes sense: Overall, the initiative aims to reduce by 15 percent the cost of healthcare procedures and processes with GE technologies and services. |
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Handle with care: GE will partner with physicians and others to focus on innovations that simplify and refine healthcare procedures and accelerate standards of care. |
The initiative is modeled after GE’s successful ecomagination business strategy, which is designed to drive growth for GE and its investors by building innovative technologies to help customers address their environmental and financial needs, such as the need for cleaner, more efficient sources of energy. Similarly, key goals of healthymagination are to grow GE’s business by accelerating the development and deployment of healthcare information technology and by pushing high-tech products to more affordable price points, thereby expanding their adoption.
GE’s also focusing on learning from the best and the brightest in healthcare by working with external thought leaders and policymakers to gain their views about critical problems –- and possible solutions. A GE Health Advisory Board is being created that includes former U.S. senators Bill Frist and Tom Daschle and other global healthcare leaders to gain ongoing insight for the initiative.
A tipping point: “We saw the same type of tipping point four years ago when we launched our successful environmental initiative, ecomagination,” Jeff Immelt said. “We learned that technical innovation can drive solutions and value for customers, investors, employees and the public. We will bring the same integrated approach to healthcare, focusing all of our expertise, labor and imagination on its success.”
Unifying the new initiative is a key number: “15 percent.” In more than doubling its research and development spending on healthymagination products, GE aims to reduce by 15 percent the cost of procedures and processes with GE technologies and services. As part of the initiative, GE will launch 50 low-cost products that offer high-tech capabilities with simple operation and application and that are 15 percent lower in cost, on average. These “only what is needed” products will be tailored to the needs of areas where access to healthcare technology is limited.
GE also will increase by 15 percent people’s access to services and technologies essential for health. For example, GE announced today that it will expand its maternal infant care product offerings by 35 percent in order to address needs in rural and developing markets.
And GE aims to improve quality and efficiency by 15 percent for customers through simplifying and refining healthcare procedures and standards of care. The focus on quality doesn’t just mean top of the line technology, but also also efficiency. For example, GE’s Performance Solutions service business has set a target of $1 billion in reduced cost for customers over the next five years to help hospitals become more efficient through process redesign.
Oxford Analytica, an independent, Oxford-based international research and consultancy firm, is reviewing GE’s progress and innovations to determine if they meet healthymagination standards. To date, Oxford Analytica has qualified 10 GE products that yield 15 percent improvement in cost, access and quality, with 20 more in the pipeline. GE’s goal is to qualify 100 healthymagination innovations by 2015.
Small is big: GE’s newest innovations — such as low-cost digital x-ray machines, portable ultrasounds, and more affordable cardiac equipment — will save costs for doctors, hospitals, the government, families and businesses.
The healthymagination initiative is also wide-reaching across GE. For example, GE, through its Developing Health Globally program, announced today that it’s expanding the number of public health clinics it supports in developing markets from 30 to 100, starting with six clinics in Cambodia in 2009. And NBC Universal and NBC News are committing to aid consumers in the form of more than 5,000 televised reports annually on health and wellness and companion online tools.
GE’s chairman and CEO Jeff Immelt said that GE’s efforts across the board can “measurably improve cost, access and quality,” adding: “That means lower-cost technology for more customers, products matched to specific local needs and process expertise to help customers win. It’s consistent with our global growth strategy of aligning our businesses with the greatest growth opportunities of the next decade.”
* Read GE’s detailed announcement about the initiative and an accompanying fact sheet
* Watch an array of videos about our initiative at healthymagination.com
* Reporters can download media assets at healthymagination.com/news
* Learn more about the GE Developing Health Globally expanding to Cambodia
* Read about the future of health IT in Forbes and Fast Company
* Learn about GE’s recent partnership with Intel on home healthcare
* Read AP’s story about the launch
* Read our story about GE’s localized healthcare technology breakthroughs going global
Read GE Reports’ live blog coverage of the morning roundtable discussion.
Watch a replay of this morning’s webcast of the announcement and Q&A.
http://www.gereports.com/ge-commits-6-billion-in-new-healthymagination-launch/
Tagged as: Healthcare, Healthymagination
Posted on May 7, 2009
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healthymagination, what a great initiative! From its inception it promises to be as successful as the Ecomagination initiative.
To whom this may concern, I am curious as to if this is part of Obama wanting to nationalize health care. I am opposed to his intentions for health care reform. To take my health records and put them into a national database violates my 4th and 5th amendment rights. If I find this to be the case I will destroy all my GE appliances and various other products and will never buy another.
Another media healthymagination reverberation. GE’s initiative was featured in the second part of this story:
http://healthcare.tmcnet.com/topics/healthcare/articles/55795-ge-spend-3-billion-over-six-years-healthcare.htm
Like you and so many others what president Obama has propose will benefit you, unless your rich and don’t care about others outside your family.
This is for Michael, read and get the right information before jumping to conclusion. Don’t let the media wrap you up and fool you like they have for years and years. Who do you think have your information now? Who do you think put us in this big hole?
To those who want to reduce their healthcare costs…. which are going up by double digits.
Let me tell you my story…. I had a very severe reaction to something (my suspicion is its black ink used everywhere, including news papers.. but not confirmed). My first reaction was to go see my physician. Who did a bunch of tests including some blood tests. When my condition didnt improve, he sent me to a dermatologist.
Just before leaving to go for my dermatologist visit, I decided to take my blood test results (which I alwasy get a copy of from the lab… all u have to do is request it thru your doctor). After examining me the doctor, said he will need some blood work done. I showed him the tests that were done only recently. He looked at it and said no blood tests are necessary. my blood test results showed him that he could not give me some of the medicines that he had in mind.
I myself acted as a health care system that had the necessary info. This info could have been made available to the dermatologist thru a GOOD healthcare system. now lest look at it what it saved… it saved another blood test.. that would have cost $500 or so. It would have delayed my presciprtion by any where from 1-3 weeks, and saved me another visit to the doctor.. perhaps another $100. Thats at least $600 plus delay and more aggravation.
Then I was refered to the University Hospital.. and the whole process was repaeted.. savving another $600+. thats a total of at least $1200.
And I am just one patient out of millions who gets tested for things again and again because the new docotor cant get the info they need to make a decision.
If 1 million patients avoided just one extra test as mine… thaere would be a saving of $600 Million a year. Just note that blood tests are not that expensive as compared to MRI’s and CAT scans and so forth….
AGAIN if we have a GOOD healthcare system in place, we as patients can reduce the cost, and get well faster, becaue the doctor has the info avaialabe to make the right decision quickly.
Sorry I got carried away… but it was important…. FYI… my problem started Feb 2007 and now in November 2010 I am looking forward to (hopefully) get rid of it all soon.
Thanx and have a great health!!