April 4, 2009
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Intel and General Electric say they are joining forces to develop remote heathcare technologies that will
benefit patients outside hospitals and help doctors in their own offices.
GE CEO Jeff Immelt and Intel CEO Paul Otellini announced the joint effort, intended to let doctors use two-way
wireless communications to help patients.
The two companies plan to spend $250 million jointly in the next five years on the R&D of health technologies to
allow doctors to remotely monitor, diagnose and consult with patients in their homes or assisted-living residences.
Both companies have similar offerings in the field of telehealth and home health monitoring. Intel has just
introduced a special-purpose computer with two-way video capability, which is linked over the Internet to a doctor,
nurse or physician assistant, called Intel Health Guide.
G.E. and Intel are pursuing what they expect to be a new multibillion-dollar market for using technology in automating
and streamlining the management of chronic conditions as populations age, both in the U.S. and in other countries.
Under this partnership, GE agreed to distribute Intel’s computer system through its worldwide sales force. Since 2002,
General Electric has built a small business unit, GE QuietCare, which uses motion sensors to monitor older patients,
mostly in communities for the elderly, so caregivers can be alerted to unusual patterns of activity, or inactivity,
that might signal a health problem or emergency.
According to research firm Data Monitor, today's market for telehealth and remote health monitoring in North America
and Europe is about $3 billion, and is projected to rise to $7.7 billion in three years from now. But most of the
remote monitoring done today is by nurses and physician assistants, who call patients with reminders and advice.
According to various medical experts, chronic ailments such as heart disease, diabetes and hypertension account for
up to 80 percent of health care costs, and to about 68.4 percent of deaths in the U.S.
Unless properly managed, such chronic conditions worsen as people grow older. By 2030, about 71.5 million
Americans will be 65 or older, the federal government estimates, up from 37 million in 2006.
“Today’s systems simply won’t scale,” said Louis Burns, general manager of Intel’s digital health group. “Health
care has to go efficiently into the home, to enable elders to age in an environment with some dignity.”
The early market for their high-tech remote monitoring systems, the companies’ executives say, will be integrated
health providers in the U.S. and abroad, insurers and specialized disease-management companies.
Managing chronic conditions is typically not reimbursed in America’s fee-for-service system of health care,
which pays for procedures, treatments and office visits but often not preventive care.
Intel has sold systems to Advanced Warning Systems, a disease management company, and has piloted projects under
way with several institutions ranging from American insurer Aetna to a Scottish region of Britain’s National Health
Service.
However, there have been some Medicare pilot projects to pay providers based on improved health outcomes for
patients, mainly those with chronic conditions.
The Obama administration has pledged to accelerate that program, promoting electronic health records as a way
to measure the quality of care and health outcomes.
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