GE and the Medical Software Business

Giant GE said it will offer $100 million in financing to help doctors and hospitals buy its electronic medical records products, purchases that GE expects will be eligible for reimbursement under U.S. stimulus funding.

The interest-free financing, with deferred payments, is part of chief executive Jeffrey Immelt’s “healthymagination” campaign introduced last month to improve the access and affordability of health care, GE said.

GE’s electronic medical records products aim to reduce health-care costs by eliminating the redundancy of tests and offer improved recordkeeping. Funds are available under the U.S. stimulus package to upgrade to electronic medical record systems, though reimbursement won’t be available until 2011, GE said.

The financing will largely be offered to doctors, community health clinics and hospitals.

GE will use its finance arm to write the loans, while the health-care division will offer a warranty that the products are certified, a precursor to federal stimulus eligibility. The program is dubbed Stimulus Simplicity.

The $100 million is part of the $2 billion GE has committed to health-care financing as part of the “healthymagination” campaign.

Immelt wants to broaden sales for the medical unit as demand stagnates for equipment such as MRI machines in the U.S.