Intel, General Electric To Jointly Develop Health Care-Related Technology

Main Category: IT / Internet / E-mail
Also Included In: Caregivers / Homecare;  Primary Care / General Practice;  Public Health
Article Date: 03 Apr 2009 - 5:00 PDT

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On Thursday, Intel and General Electric are expected to announce that they will work together on new health care technology, such as health information technology and home health care monitoring, the Wall Street Journal reports.

According to the Journal, Intel in recent years has put emphasis on technology that monitors sick or aging people at home and then transfers their information to physicians over the Internet. Intel needs a partner to break into the market further, and GE -- which sells a monitoring system that can track a person's daily activities at home and send information to health care providers -- is a "logical" choice, according to the Journal.

GE uses Intel's microprocessing chips in some of its equipment, though the company would benefit from partnering with a technology company like Intel, the Journal reports. In a September meeting, GE Healthcare CEO John Dineen said that while IT represented less than 10% of its business, it would be major part of the company's future growth (Clark/Glader, Wall Street Journal, 4/2). Reuters/Boston Globe reports that GE's health care business represented $2.9 billion of $17.4 billion in sales in 2008 (Reuters/Boston Globe, 4/1).

Marc Holland, research director at Health Industry Insights, said that President Obama and members of his administration have been pushing "telemedicine," which puts Intel in "a very good position" (Wall Street Journal, 4/2).

GE Expansion
In related news, production on new imagers for digital mammography machines is expected to begin this summer at a $165 million GE facility currently under construction in New York state, the Albany Times Union reports. The facility will employ 150 people.

According to a study by the American College of Radiology Imaging Network and funded by the National Cancer Institute, digital mammography machines can cost several hundred thousand dollars each, but are considered more accurate than film X-ray machines.

GE spokesperson Thomas Feist said the company also is developing new technology for several other products, such as cardiovascular imaging (Anderson, Albany Times Union, 4/2).

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