GE's New Fund Hopes to Help 'Shape the Future of Healthcare'

The industrial giant GE plans to boost its already sizable presence in the healthcare arena with the establishment of the “GE Healthymagination Fund,” a $250 million equity fund that will make investments in healthcare technology companies. The fund will invest in companies globally that have innovative diagnostic, information technology, and life sciences technologies that fit with the strategic objectives of the company’s Healthymagination initiative, a $6 billion effort to deliver better healthcare to more people at lower cost.

In addition, the fund will support healthcare companies developing innovative and unique business models and services, the company said.

The company said the new fund will target three broad areas for investment:

• Broad-based Diagnostics, including imaging, home health, patient monitoring, molecular diagnostics, pathology, novel imaging agents and other technologies for disease diagnosis.

• Healthcare Information Technology, including electronic medical records, clinical information systems, healthcare information exchanges and value-added data services.

• Life Sciences, including tools for research and development in biopharmaceuticals and stem cells, and technologies for manufacturing of biopharmaceuticals and vaccines.

“As GE works on solutions to healthcare’s biggest challenges, it is vitally important that we support the development of companies with promising technologies or business models that are aligned with our strategy and have the potential to shape the future of healthcare,” GE Chairman and CEO Jeffrey Immelt says. “This includes smarter processes and technologies that measurably increase access to healthcare, reduce the cost of delivery and improve quality.”

Comments

[cyclingscholar:]

Good. Please sell your ridiculous media division and use the funds in the health care arena.

Oct 23 12:51 PM

[ex GE'er:]

I'm sure the brilliant strategy of selling $5,000 ultrasound machines to developing countries will more than fund this initiative - NOT! How much as GE put aside to cover all the litigation over MRI contrast agents? Immelt is destroying this company with his half-brained ideas and inability to deliver on anything.

Oct 23 01:35 PM

[sethmcs:]

Good. Now if we can figure out what companies GE will invest in BEFORE they invest. Then we are on to something.

Oct 23 05:26 PM

[ncalmd:]

Health information technology is a very interesting market. Right now there are a few hundred or so electronic medical record systems, none of which can speak to each other. These systems are designed to capture every single bit of data possible in order to justify charges. As a result, information from a patient visit, which pre HIT could be conveyed in a couple short paragraphs, may be 4 or 5 full pages of semi-intelligible templated outputs if printed out.
Since none of these systems can share data without costly conversion, transfer of information from an HIT to someone without an HIT system or a different system, is a disaster. Hundreds of pages of output, that previously might have been only been 20-30 pages. Given that this is being driven by the feds, I suspect it will take 3 or 4 years to recognize that nobody is looking at old records because it will take 5x times longer than reviewing traditional paper records. That's where I foresee the market first consolidating to the big players who will provide reasonably priced conversion services to their systems.... GE being one of those big players.

Since I don't use a ouija board, I don't have a clear idea what's coming down in "health reform", but I am certain that costs will increase rather than decrease. Given that we already devote 5-6 per cent more of GNP to healthcare than other similarly developed countries, an increase in costs will simply bring the day or reckoning closer. That's why I hope someone can figure out an index that tracks contributions from healthcare interests to legislators. This would definitely be a winner. On the other hand, I see increased pricing pressure on new products. So unless a product is unique, rather than simply an alternative, I would foresee a difficult market for pharmaceuticals over the next 4-5 years.

Oct 24 08:57 PM