* Business growth strategy centers on better healthcare for more people at lower cost
* Built on successful ecomagination model
* $3 billion investment for 100 innovations that lower cost, increase access and improve quality; $2 billion to finance IT and access in rural & underserved areas; $1 billion for partnerships, content and services
* Focus on four critical needs: low-cost technology; healthcare IT; innovation for all; and consumer-driven healthcare
* Improve GE employee health and competitiveness
* Strengthen GE Healthcare business model, widen value gap between healthcare earnings and healthcare spend
* NBC to expand health content, including new daily health show on MSNBC
Dubai, UAE; May 9, 2009: GE recently announced that it will spend $3 billion over the next six years on healthcare innovation that will help deliver better care to more people at lower cost. In addition, the company will commit $2 billion of financing and $1 billion in related GE technology and content to drive healthcare information technology and health in rural and underserved areas. These investments are the foundation of GE's healthymagination initiative, which is built on the global commitments of reducing costs, improving quality and expanding access for millions of people.
Under healthymagination, by 2015 GE will:
Healthymagination will draw on capabilities from across GE, including GE Healthcare, GE Capital, GE Water, NBC Universal, the GE Global Research Center as well as the GE Foundation, the philanthropic arm of GE.
"Healthcare industry is an important industry that is challenged by rising costs, inequality of access and persistent quality issues," Immelt said. "Healthcare needs new solutions. We must combine technology with innovations and smarter processes that help doctors and hospitals deliver better healthcare to more people at a lower cost.
"Healthymagination is our business strategy that seeks to help people live healthier lives, support customer success and help GE grow," Immelt said. "We will invest in innovations that measurably improve cost, access and quality. That means lower-cost technology for more customers, products matched to specific local needs and process expertise to help customers win.
"This reflects the new opportunities we see in healthcare," Immelt said. Our newest innovations -- low-cost digital x-ray machines, portable ultrasounds, more affordable cardiac equipment -- will save costs for doctors, hospitals, the government, families and businesses. This will help level the playing field in health care. With our technology, rural and urban areas and developing countries can have access to the best technology, affordably.
"We saw the same type of tipping point four years ago when we launched our successful environmental initiative, ecomagination," Immelt said. "We learned that technical innovation can drive solutions and value for customers, investors, employees and the public. We will bring the same integrated approach to healthcare, focusing all of our expertise, labor and imagination on its success."
GE Healthcare President and CEO John Dineen said, "This is the right time to reposition our healthcare business, given the changes and challenges in the industry. Our customers are looking for productivity and solutions. We will focus on the products, the process excellence and the partnerships that broaden access to healthcare and reduce its cost."
Former U.S. Senator Tom Daschle, who will serve on GE's healthymagination advisory board, said, "We can only find real solutions in health care when business, government and their partners work together. The commitments GE made today on access, cost, and quality are a great start toward demonstrating their leadership in this debate. I look forward to working with them."
INNOVATIONS FOCUSED ON COST, ACCESS AND QUALITY
GE will more than double its research and development spending on healthymagination products, totaling $3 billion by 2015, meaning at least half of GE Healthcare's spending will be on innovations that:
In addition to the $3 billion spend by GE Healthcare, GE Capital will provide $2 billion in financing for advancing healthcare IT and several GE businesses will spend $1 billion over the next five years for partnerships, media content and services related to healthymagination.
Oxford Analytica, an independent, Oxford-based international research and consultancy firm, is reviewing GE commitments in products and services innovations to determine if they meet healthymagination standards. To date, Oxford Analytica has qualified seven GE products that yield 15 percent improvement in cost, access and quality, with 20 more in the pipeline. GE's goal is to qualify 100 healthymagination innovations by 2015.
For Customers
GE will work with partners to address four critical healthcare needs to start:
Target technology toward lower-cost outcomes -- To reduce the impact of technology on costs, GE is broadening the way it develops new products. GE today announced two new initiatives:
Make health IT faster and more productive -- GE will seek to increase the use and capability of electronic medical record (EMR) technology and other information technology that speed communications, limit variation and control costs. GE today announced two new initiatives:
Create innovation for all -- More than two billion people do not have access to basic elements of a healthy life such as clean water or the ability to see a doctor or visit a health clinic. To address this need, GE has created a suite of maternal and cardiac care products for rural and developing markets. GE today announced two new efforts:
Facilitate consumer-driven health and prevention -- Chronic diseases like diabetes and hypertension kill 1.7 million Americans a year -- affecting seven out of every ten people. The cost of managing these diseases is rising rapidly. To help address these needs, GE recently announced a partnership with Intel to provide products to remotely monitor the health of seniors and those with chronic conditions. GE also announced these new initiatives:
For employees
GE Vice Chairman John Rice will lead an effort to create an innovative culture of health to help improve the health of GE's employees and retirees and to contain costs. GE will partner with governments and other companies to build a "healthy work site" certification program. GE will turn its 175 health centers into wellness clinics and increase the use of employee incentives and decision support for health and prevention. It will provide personal health records to employees to identify health risks and track behaviors. GE also will make its worksites smoke-free.
As a result of these efforts, GE will seek to lower the growth of its healthcare costs below the rate of inflation. This should make many of these sites more competitive in global markets.
"We're going to get better at promoting employee health at the 600-plus GE locations around the world," Rice said. "By making the well-being of our employees a priority and giving employees the tools they need to make healthy choices, we're going to control our own costs."
For investors
Like ecomagination, GE believes its healthcare initiative will be good for investors. Healthymagination is designed to position GE Healthcare to grow organically over the long term at 2 to 3 times GDP. In addition, GE has a positive healthcare "value gap" of $500 million. This is the difference between earnings in GE Healthcare and employee healthcare costs. GE plans to grow this gap in the future as it drives innovations that solve customers' problems and create healthier and more productive work sites.
For the public
GE announced today the formation of GE Health Advisory Board, to include membership by former U.S. Senators Bill Frist and Tom Daschle and other healthcare experts. The board will advise GE on its health efforts, investments and policy and will participate in regular public reporting on GE's performance.
Immelt said, "Healthymagination initiative is consistent with our global growth strategy of aligning our businesses with the greatest growth opportunities of the next decade. Our focus on the environment and affordable healthcare will be our pillar strategies for growth into the next decade."
For more details about healthymagination, visit www.healthymagination.com/news. Follow the conversation today on Twitter at #GEhealth or @GE_reports.
About GE
GE (NYSE: GE) is an innovative and diversified technology company taking on the world's toughest challenges. From aircraft engines and power generation to financial services, healthcare, and television programming, GE operates in more than 100 countries and employs about 300,000 people worldwide. For more information, visit the company's Web site at www.ge.com.
About GE Healthcare
GE Healthcare provides transformational medical technologies and services that are shaping a new age of patient care. Our broad expertise in medical imaging and information technologies, medical diagnostics, patient monitoring systems, drug discovery, biopharmaceutical manufacturing technologies, performance improvement and performance solutions services help our customers to deliver better care to more people around the world at a lower cost. In addition, we partner with healthcare leaders, striving to leverage the global policy change necessary to implement a successful shift to sustainable healthcare systems.
Our "healthymagination" vision for the future invites the world to join us on our journey as we continuously develop innovations focused on reducing costs, increasing access and improving quality and efficiency around the world. Headquartered in the United Kingdom, GE Healthcare is a $17 billion unit of General Electric Company (NYSE: GE). Worldwide, GE Healthcare employs more than 46,000 people committed to serving healthcare professionals and their patients in more than 100 countries. For more information about GE Healthcare, visit our website at www.gehealthcare.com
Dr Val Jones
GE Healthcare
[email protected]
+44-1494-498052
+44-7917-175192
Kelly Home
ASDA’A Burson-Marsteller
[email protected]
+971 4 4507 600