GE Healthcare Invests Billions in Software Development

GE Healthcare is investing $2 billion over the next five years to accelerate the development of innovative software for healthcare systems and applications. GE Healthcare has a history in software with its Healthcare IT business, and according to company officials, this investment is designed to advance current and future offerings to address new and pressing operational and productivity challenges faced by global healthcare organizations. GE Healthcare will work closely with the GE Software Center of Excellence in San Ramon, Calif., as well as at various research and development hubs around the world, to develop new software solutions.

GE Healthcare is the largest software development unit within parent company General Electric. GE Healthcare provides medical imaging technologies, IT services, patient monitoring and diagnostic solutions, biopharmaceutical manufacturing technologies and operational and technological service solutions. This $2 billion investment specifically will focus on maximizing asset performance; improving hospital operations management; improving clinical effectiveness; and optimizing care across entire populations. The venture will focus on three key areas:

• Caring for more patients as a result of scheduling efficiencies, faster data entry, proactive asset management, clinical decision support and financial gains that allow for expansion;
• Reducing costs by optimizing workflow in care delivery, minimizing payment cycles, maximizing reimbursement rates and eliminating unnecessary waste; and
• Minimizing rework and redundancies by enhancing collaboration and making patient information universally accessible.

“GE is investing in software and analytics to better help our customers manage the operational complexity of the healthcare system,” said John Dineen, president and CEO of GE Healthcare. “These new software solutions will look to connect caregivers in a meaningful way to the systems upon which they rely, enabling them to deliver better informed diagnoses and improved care. Healthcare has always relied on ‘big data,’ and the need to understand data is even greater now. What is important is how we use data: providing the right technology that allows physicians to pinpoint the right diagnosis; match it to the right treatment; and make more informed decisions.”

General Electric Co. is headquartered in Fairfield, Conn. GE Healthcare is based in Buckinghamshire, United Kingdom, with its U.S. IT division based in Barrington, Ill.