Philips,GRMC Sign Big Health Care Pact

Georgia Regents Medical Center and Koninklijke Philips NV have inked a 15 year,300 million dollar partnership agreement of unprecedented scope in the US.It promises to address current and future clinical,operational and equipment needs across GRMC's many facilities,at a fixed operational cost over the 15 year period. Four to six million GRMC patients in Georgia and South Carolina stand to benefit from the collaboration.It encompasses consulting services;advanced medical technologies;operational performance;planning and maintenance services. The goal is to deliver faster,more effective and cost-efficienr care from diagnostics to therapeutics,to inpatient and outpatient clinical services.The pact will cover all medical specialties and enhance medical research and clinical technology R&D for care delivery innovation. Philips will provide imaging systems;patient monitoring and clinical informatics;lighting and consumer products;as well as rapid access to new equipment and educational resources. Deborah DiSuizo,CEO of Philips Healthcare,said we are proud to embark on this transformational alliance,as we share the vision that we can create the future of healthcare by creatively and efeectively meeting the long term care needs of patients. Philips has entered similar but smaller scale agreements with hospitals in Europe,Asia,the Middle East and Africa that have proved successful in improving patient outcomes and controlling costs. Koninklijke Philips NV(PHG)

Care Innovators:GE and Intel

General Electric and Intel have joined forces on Care Innovations,an initiative to support independent living of the chronically ill,improving their health and lowering the cost of care.The jointly-owned company,which combines GE Healthcare's Home Health division and Intel's Digital Health Group,will tap a market for Telehealth and home health monitoring that is expected to grow to around 7.7 billion dollars by 2012.
Care Innovations has a vision of providing innovative products and services that will enable new models of care,improving the quality of care and patient empowerment,while helping reduce health care costs through new technologies,according to CEO Louis Burns.The joint venture has received final regulatory clearances and is fully operational.
CI's core focus areas are disease management,independent living and assistive technologies.Among its products are patient monitoring,independent living concepts and assistive technologies such as the Intel Health Guide and GE QuietCare.The firm intends to continue developing this healthcare IT to enable lower healthcare costs and a higher quality of life for patients worldwide.
Dutch electronics titan Philips is also active in the field through its Telehealth Solutions.Among Philips' products are the TeleStation,Measurement Devices and Web-based Clinical Review Software.
General Electric(GE),Intel(INTC),Koninklijke Philips Electronics(PHG)