General Electric will attempt to expand its health care business by offering more lower-cost products. Under the plan, GE will allocate $6 billion over the next six years to develop up to 100 new medical devices by 2015. The company says the products will help lower costs, increase access and improve health care quality.
The initiative, which GE calls "healthymagination," will allocate $3 billion for the development of the new products such as portable ultrasound machines and decision-support software for physicians. GE said each new product must meet health care quality improvement standards, lower costs and increase access to care by 15%.
The initiative also allocates $2 billion toward the expansion of GE's electronic health records service and other health information technologies in rural and underserved regions of the U.S. Additional funds also have been reserved to expand and improve health care services and programs abroad.
Jeffrey Immelt, chair and CEO of GE, says, "The high end in health care is never going to go away," adding, "But this will make us broader in terms of price points and offerings."