GE and Intel create new health IT venture focused on home-based care

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Aug 4 2010

General Electric Co. and Intel Corp. announced Monday they will create a company to provide new medical technologies for the elderly and chronically ill.

Bloomberg Businessweek: "Both companies are already involved in the health care market. GE Healthcare offers consulting and sells medical devices in areas that include cardiology and oncology. Intel launched its Digital Health Group in 2005 to look into uses for its products in health care research and personal health care. The new company, which doesn't yet have a name, will combine the assets of GE Healthcare's Home Health division and Intel's Digital Health Group. The venture builds on an alliance that GE and Intel formed in April 2009 around independent living and chronic disease management. ... Intel and GE will each own half of the new venture, which is expected to launch by the end of the year" (O'Connor, 8/2).

The Wall Street Journal: "'GE and Intel have not been exactly speedy' in this category, said Laurie Orlov, an analyst with Aging in Place Technology Watch. She said Dutch firm Royal Philips Electronics NV and others have led the market for home health-care products for the elderly, a market she predicts will reach $20 billion by 2020. ... One major hurdle facing GE and Intel in the U.S. is that Medicare and private insurers don't currently offer reimbursement for home health-monitoring systems" (Clark and Glader, 8/3).

McClatchy/The Bellingham Herald: "In a joint statement by GE and Intel, officials said that 'the dramatic increase of people living with chronic conditions, and a global aging population' emphasizes 'the need to find new models of health care delivery and extend care to the home and other residential settings'" (Calvan, 8/2).

The Hill: In a statement announcing the venture, Paul Otellini, Intel president and CEO, said "We must rethink models of care that go beyond hospital and clinic visits, to home and community-based care models that allow for prevention, early detection, behavior change and social support. The creation of this new company is aimed at accelerating just that" (Lillis, 8/2).

Bloomberg News/The New York Times: "The companies said in announcing their collaboration in 2009 that they would spend $250 million over the next five years to develop products for the $3 billion home health care market" (8/2).

This article was reprinted from khn.org with permission from the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation. Kaiser Health News, an editorially independent news service, is a program of the Kaiser Family Foundation, a nonpartisan health care policy research organization unaffiliated with Kaiser Permanente.