GE Healthcare and Microsoft have announced plans to create a joint venture company aimed at helping healthcare organizations and professionals use real-time, systemwide intelligence to improve healthcare quality.
The joint venture will combine GE Healthcare's information technology experience in clinical and administrative workflow solutions with Microsoft's expertise in building computer platforms. The as-yet unnamed company will be headquartered near Microsoft's headquarters in Redmond, WA, with a launch date in the first half of 2012, pending regulatory approval.
Upon formation, the new company will develop and market an open, interoperable technology platform and clinical applications focused on enabling better health management to improve outcomes and the overall economics of health and wellness. The open platform will give healthcare providers and independent software vendors the ability to develop a new generation of clinical applications, according to a joint press release. Chronic disease management was cited as one example of the joint venture's focus.
Healthcare applications will be created on the platform using in-house software developers. The platform will be designed to connect with a wide range of healthcare IT products, including all existing GE Healthcare IT offerings.
Both GE and Microsoft will contribute intellectual property to the venture. This will include GE Healthcare's eHealth health information exchange (HIE), and Qualibria, a clinical knowledge application environment being developed with Intermountain Healthcare in Salt Lake City and the Mayo Clinic.
Microsoft's contribution will include Amalga, the company's enterprise health intelligence platform; expreSSO, an enterprise single sign-on solution; and Vergence, a single sign-on and content management application.
