Hoping to take advantage of market interest in integrated healthcare information systems, GE Medical Systems has formed a new company called GE Medical Systems Information Technologies.
The new company, valued by GE at $1 billion, will provide a range of cardiology, radiology, patient monitoring, and clinical information systems, as well as Internet-based benchmarking and performance management services.
GE hopes the firm will be able to broaden the experience of GE's various healthcare IS units beyond individual clinical specialties to support an enterprise-wide IT model. The company believes the new approach will help healthcare institutions improve clinical and administrative decision-making.
Recent GE PACS and IS-related acquisitions, including Marquette Medical Systems, Applicare Medical Imaging, Mecon, European RIS firm Innomed, and Prucka Engineering will all operate under the purview of the new company, as will GE’s own PACS and related IS initiatives. The Waukesha, WI-based vendor’s planned acquisition of cardiovascular information systems provider Micro Medical Systems will also fall under GE Medical Systems Information Technologies.
Greg Lucier, previously vice president and general manager of GEMS’ Global Services unit, will serve as president and CEO of the new firm, to be based in Milwaukee.
In the next few weeks the firm will launch its first product: an enterprise-wide system incorporating the vendor's latest advances in information systems integration and improved architectural commonality.
"We will be announcing an enterprise-wide solution that will provide a building-block approach, so that (for example), vascular information systems and radiology information systems are much more integrated into an enterprise-wide, electronic medical record approach," he said.
The IT firm will also implement GE’s strategy in the medical imaging IS market, where the company hopes to apply the technology, Lucier said.
"Our intention is to expand that business to not only be PACS, but also radiology information systems to help change the workflow in the radiology department," Lucier said. "And secondly, to merge much of the technology for the archiving of images for broader enterprise solutions, not just serving radiology, but also, for example, cardiology and other areas where images need to be stored, processed, and moved across the healthcare enterprise."
The company will employ an integrated distribution strategy for all IS products and services, setting up a single commercial team in each of the Europe, Americas, and Asia regions, Lucier said. Each region will have its own customer support team.
By Erik L. RidleyAuntMinnie.com staff writer
September 1, 2000
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Applicare unveils RadWorks 5.1, June 12, 2000
Emageon signs deal with GE, June 2, 2000
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