GE Healthcare launched the Indian expansion of its $1.5B Global Healthcare IT business today, pledging to offer strong healthcare connectivity and resources to a country that has lagged behind in this key area of healthcare delivery.
India, with a population of 1.3 Billion, has fewer than 0.7 beds per 1000 people and an acute shortage of healthcare professionals. GE Healthcare IT solutions will help increase patient access and bridge the acute shortage of well-trained healthcare professionals.
"Healthcare IT is the spine of any good healthcare infrastructure. It delivers information to the heart of healthcare institutions and to the fingertips of providers and patients seamlessly, anywhere, anytime,” said Vishal Wanchoo, president & CEO of GE Healthcare IT. “We’re not strangers here. We understand the limitations Indian healthcare is facing between disparate clinics, little information sharing and the paperwork barrier. We are committed to begin changing this through the initiatives we are announcing today and believe we’re ushering in a new era in Indian healthcare delivery."
India is now beginning to discover how GE Centricity® solutions deliver information at the center of care, helping organizations achieve more effective and efficient decisions on behalf of patients and providers. GE offers solutions that span the clinical, service, financial and administrative sectors, financial & administrative solutions, clinical solutions and Service solutions that serve a broad range of organizations from small physician practices, to imaging centers and the largest hospital/integrated delivery networks (IDNs). Business software helps improve efficiency and enhance the patient experience. Clinical and imaging solutions help drive greater productivity and help enhance patient safety with workflows and managing protocols. Three key developments marked the official launch of the business, each addressing one of the key pillars of cost, quality and access.
Cost: Eliminating the need for Upfront Capital Investment.
Introducing healthcare IT solutions often requires significant up-front investment by healthcare providers, in addition to regular updates of software, hardware and maintenance. To help eliminate this barrier to growth, GE Healthcare is offering "Managed Solutions" to providers who need to integrate multiple locations or have plans to expand and reach masses through GE Healthcare IT solutions in India . While India is renowned for its use of IT in all other sectors, healthcare institutions will now be better connected with the investments GE Healthcare is making to create a centralized healthcare IT infrastructure.
" India has the largest pool of IT professionals and IT-savvy communities and it has left its mark on virtually every sector this country has. Healthcare is the exception,” said V Raja, president & CEO of GE Healthcare South Asia. “We still lack the infrastructure to enable more unified access across our rural and urban communities. We believe the unique "managed" business model will help transform the way healthcare is delivered in India ."
Quality: Clinical rich content & applications for India .
Designed to meet specifically cited needs in India , GE’s top-rated internet-based PACS-IW offering provides remote accessibility for radiologists to review images when they are away from the hospital, plus instantaneous reporting on true DICOM datasets, significantly reducing overall costs.
PACS-IW, a multi-site link in itself, provides state-of-the-art features, including 3D reconstruction “on the fly,” advanced image formatting and integrated reporting. This solution works on most standard PCs with internet access and has an extremely simplified end user workflow. This combines to create a low maintenance teleradiology solution with absolutely no additional software installs or configuration needs.
Access: Alignment with DCA Imaging Centre
GE Healthcare also announced its first “managed” Indian partnership with DCA Imaging Centre, New Delhi . Under this alignment, GE Healthcare has installed Centricity PACS-IW solution at DCA Imaging headquarters in Delhi . With this brand new solution, DCA Imaging has already connected five imaging centres in India and will create a wider network in the near future. With GE’s solution, DCA Imaging Centre can now offer diagnostic reports without delay, and without any upfront investment.
“The benefits are enormous,” said Dr. Ajay Aggarwal, director and radiologist at Diwan Chand Integral Health Services in New Dehli, the first institution to install PACS-IW in India . “Using this connectivity model ensured we could leave our IT to the specialists at GE Healthcare and better allocate our funds for life saving technologies and facilities for improving patient care. That means we don't have to worry about taking care of hardware or software upgrades, repair budget allocation or downtime.” Dr. Ajay Aggarwal noted his staff’s instant recognition of the system’s performance and “screaming speed.”
We needed a solution that could grow as the organization grows and GE provided that,” said Dr. Aggarwal. “This is just a small step in taking Indian healthcare into the future. Imagine the entire Indian healthcare system using this intuitive tool to create networks for wider healthcare services. Indian healthcare will then take giant leaps!”
India, with a population of 1.3 Billion, has fewer than 0.7 beds per 1000 people and an acute shortage of healthcare professionals. GE Healthcare IT solutions will help increase patient access and bridge the acute shortage of well-trained healthcare professionals.
"Healthcare IT is the spine of any good healthcare infrastructure. It delivers information to the heart of healthcare institutions and to the fingertips of providers and patients seamlessly, anywhere, anytime,” said Vishal Wanchoo, president & CEO of GE Healthcare IT. “We’re not strangers here. We understand the limitations Indian healthcare is facing between disparate clinics, little information sharing and the paperwork barrier. We are committed to begin changing this through the initiatives we are announcing today and believe we’re ushering in a new era in Indian healthcare delivery."
India is now beginning to discover how GE Centricity® solutions deliver information at the center of care, helping organizations achieve more effective and efficient decisions on behalf of patients and providers. GE offers solutions that span the clinical, service, financial and administrative sectors, financial & administrative solutions, clinical solutions and Service solutions that serve a broad range of organizations from small physician practices, to imaging centers and the largest hospital/integrated delivery networks (IDNs). Business software helps improve efficiency and enhance the patient experience. Clinical and imaging solutions help drive greater productivity and help enhance patient safety with workflows and managing protocols. Three key developments marked the official launch of the business, each addressing one of the key pillars of cost, quality and access.
Cost: Eliminating the need for Upfront Capital Investment.
Introducing healthcare IT solutions often requires significant up-front investment by healthcare providers, in addition to regular updates of software, hardware and maintenance. To help eliminate this barrier to growth, GE Healthcare is offering "Managed Solutions" to providers who need to integrate multiple locations or have plans to expand and reach masses through GE Healthcare IT solutions in India . While India is renowned for its use of IT in all other sectors, healthcare institutions will now be better connected with the investments GE Healthcare is making to create a centralized healthcare IT infrastructure.
" India has the largest pool of IT professionals and IT-savvy communities and it has left its mark on virtually every sector this country has. Healthcare is the exception,” said V Raja, president & CEO of GE Healthcare South Asia. “We still lack the infrastructure to enable more unified access across our rural and urban communities. We believe the unique "managed" business model will help transform the way healthcare is delivered in India ."
Quality: Clinical rich content & applications for India .
Designed to meet specifically cited needs in India , GE’s top-rated internet-based PACS-IW offering provides remote accessibility for radiologists to review images when they are away from the hospital, plus instantaneous reporting on true DICOM datasets, significantly reducing overall costs.
PACS-IW, a multi-site link in itself, provides state-of-the-art features, including 3D reconstruction “on the fly,” advanced image formatting and integrated reporting. This solution works on most standard PCs with internet access and has an extremely simplified end user workflow. This combines to create a low maintenance teleradiology solution with absolutely no additional software installs or configuration needs.
Access: Alignment with DCA Imaging Centre
GE Healthcare also announced its first “managed” Indian partnership with DCA Imaging Centre, New Delhi . Under this alignment, GE Healthcare has installed Centricity PACS-IW solution at DCA Imaging headquarters in Delhi . With this brand new solution, DCA Imaging has already connected five imaging centres in India and will create a wider network in the near future. With GE’s solution, DCA Imaging Centre can now offer diagnostic reports without delay, and without any upfront investment.
“The benefits are enormous,” said Dr. Ajay Aggarwal, director and radiologist at Diwan Chand Integral Health Services in New Dehli, the first institution to install PACS-IW in India . “Using this connectivity model ensured we could leave our IT to the specialists at GE Healthcare and better allocate our funds for life saving technologies and facilities for improving patient care. That means we don't have to worry about taking care of hardware or software upgrades, repair budget allocation or downtime.” Dr. Ajay Aggarwal noted his staff’s instant recognition of the system’s performance and “screaming speed.”
We needed a solution that could grow as the organization grows and GE provided that,” said Dr. Aggarwal. “This is just a small step in taking Indian healthcare into the future. Imagine the entire Indian healthcare system using this intuitive tool to create networks for wider healthcare services. Indian healthcare will then take giant leaps!”
GE Healthcare's new "MAC i" brings cost of quality cardiac early detection down to less than the price of a Bottle of Mineral Water in India
Heart disease is the number one killer in the world and India carries nearly 60% of this burden. It is rising alarmingly and affects every one - rich & poor, urban or rural. As part of GE's healthymagination commitment, GE Healthcare, a unit of General Electric Company (NYSE: GE), today launched MAC i, an In India, For India ECG innovation that has the potential to reduce ECG price to as low as Rs.9/-.
Earlier, GE Healthcare re-defined affordability of quality ECG system prices through introduction of MAC 400. MAC 400 reduced cost of ECG systems to 1/3rd of similar quality imported ECG systems. Today, MAC 400 is successfully used in many countries, thanks to its high quality, low cost, easy operation and portability. The new MAC i will make quality cardiac early detection doubly affordable as it is available to physicians at half the cost of MAC 400 - only Rs.25000/-.
"We are seeing a tipping point in healthcare today. We believe technical innovations can drive solutions and value for our customers. We are developing at least 100 innovations that will reduce the cost of procedure, increase access and improve quality. Tomorrow, they will be used everywhere in the world - just like our In India, For India products - MAC 400, Lullaby baby warmer... said V Raja, President & CEO, GE Healthcare South Asia. “ Today, we are launching new solutions as part of this commitment which are low cost, simple and easy to use. They can potentially bridge the acute shortage of healthcare experts, healthcare insurance and electricity in rural India " he added.
73% of India 's population lives in rural areas today but nearly 80% of the healthcare providers, especially specialists are clustered in urban centers, making the situation even worse. Patients have to travel long distances to meet experts and many times this happens only when there is a fatal attack; many of them do not reach a hospital in time. "Early detection" is key to tackling heart disease. Measuring the electrical activity of the heart through an ECG is the very first step in early detection of cardiac disease. Acute shortage of experts, unavailability of appropriate technology and high costs have been a big barrier to making this a reality.
Empowering the available physicians and para-health staff locally will facilitate early detection of potentially fatal cardiac disease and help reduce mortality. Simple to use, low cost devices and tele-medicine technologies are what are needed in the absence of insurance coverage and non-availability of experts and consistent electricity supply.
GE Healthcare today donated the first MAC i unit to HelpAge India to facilitate early cardiac detection for elderly patients in sub-urban and reaching he un-reached areas in India . "Innovations like these help us take advanced diagnosis to the bed side of the patient, wherever they are. HelpAge has a mobile clinic which serves elderly and under privileged. This MAC i from GE Healthcare will add cardiac early detection capabilities to our Mobile Clinic." said Rekha Murthy, Senior Manager, HelpAge India .
MAC i makes cardiac early detection very easy through its simple, one touch operation. It is a single channel ECG system capable of printing in 3 channels at the same time - which means ECG can be printed line by line per page or 3 lines on one page. It is very easy for any para-health staff or physician to use the system anywhere with just a few minutes of training. It is capable of completing 500 3-channel ECGs or 250 single channel ECGs for every 3 hour battery charge, which equals one month of operation in a village where availability of electricity is a major constraint. It is particularly suited for rural India where healthcare is delivered through Primary Health Clinics or individual physician clinics. The MAC i comes with the highly accurate and clinically proven Marquette 12SLTM analysis program. The same quality that resides in the premium ECG devices is made available in the compact MAC i to enable every physician to use the GE technology and perform reliable ECGs on every patient.
MAC i will be show-cased at the Cardiological Society of India congress from December 2 - 5, 2009 at Cochin , India .
Earlier, GE Healthcare re-defined affordability of quality ECG system prices through introduction of MAC 400. MAC 400 reduced cost of ECG systems to 1/3rd of similar quality imported ECG systems. Today, MAC 400 is successfully used in many countries, thanks to its high quality, low cost, easy operation and portability. The new MAC i will make quality cardiac early detection doubly affordable as it is available to physicians at half the cost of MAC 400 - only Rs.25000/-.
"We are seeing a tipping point in healthcare today. We believe technical innovations can drive solutions and value for our customers. We are developing at least 100 innovations that will reduce the cost of procedure, increase access and improve quality. Tomorrow, they will be used everywhere in the world - just like our In India, For India products - MAC 400, Lullaby baby warmer... said V Raja, President & CEO, GE Healthcare South Asia. “ Today, we are launching new solutions as part of this commitment which are low cost, simple and easy to use. They can potentially bridge the acute shortage of healthcare experts, healthcare insurance and electricity in rural India " he added.
73% of India 's population lives in rural areas today but nearly 80% of the healthcare providers, especially specialists are clustered in urban centers, making the situation even worse. Patients have to travel long distances to meet experts and many times this happens only when there is a fatal attack; many of them do not reach a hospital in time. "Early detection" is key to tackling heart disease. Measuring the electrical activity of the heart through an ECG is the very first step in early detection of cardiac disease. Acute shortage of experts, unavailability of appropriate technology and high costs have been a big barrier to making this a reality.
Empowering the available physicians and para-health staff locally will facilitate early detection of potentially fatal cardiac disease and help reduce mortality. Simple to use, low cost devices and tele-medicine technologies are what are needed in the absence of insurance coverage and non-availability of experts and consistent electricity supply.
GE Healthcare today donated the first MAC i unit to HelpAge India to facilitate early cardiac detection for elderly patients in sub-urban and reaching he un-reached areas in India . "Innovations like these help us take advanced diagnosis to the bed side of the patient, wherever they are. HelpAge has a mobile clinic which serves elderly and under privileged. This MAC i from GE Healthcare will add cardiac early detection capabilities to our Mobile Clinic." said Rekha Murthy, Senior Manager, HelpAge India .
MAC i makes cardiac early detection very easy through its simple, one touch operation. It is a single channel ECG system capable of printing in 3 channels at the same time - which means ECG can be printed line by line per page or 3 lines on one page. It is very easy for any para-health staff or physician to use the system anywhere with just a few minutes of training. It is capable of completing 500 3-channel ECGs or 250 single channel ECGs for every 3 hour battery charge, which equals one month of operation in a village where availability of electricity is a major constraint. It is particularly suited for rural India where healthcare is delivered through Primary Health Clinics or individual physician clinics. The MAC i comes with the highly accurate and clinically proven Marquette 12SLTM analysis program. The same quality that resides in the premium ECG devices is made available in the compact MAC i to enable every physician to use the GE technology and perform reliable ECGs on every patient.
MAC i will be show-cased at the Cardiological Society of India congress from December 2 - 5, 2009 at Cochin , India .
