Intel, GE Will Partner for Health Care IT, Invest $250 Million

by Nicholas Kolakowski

Intel CEO Paul Otellini details the joint partnership between Intel and General Electric as GE CEO Jeff Immelt looks on. The two companies will invest $250 million over the next five years in a joint effort to develop and market new health care IT technologies, including the Intel Health Guide.

A short video presentation showed the Intel Health Guide, a box that allows users to see their health history and communicate with their physician and other health care providers, at work on a patient. GE Healthcare plans to market and sell Intels device.

The Intel Health Guide transmits data to the physician via a highly encrypted format. Over the course of nearly 10 years, Intel interfaced with more than 150 hospitals and clinics, and 1,000 households in 20 countries, in order to research how patients and caregivers interacted best with technology.

The Intel Health Guide features an integrated two-way camera for video calls to health care professionals. It has a touchscreen for ease of use.

Intel and GE also demonstrated GE Quiet Care, a remote passive activity and behavioral monitoring system designed to alert health care workers to any developing health emergencies or emerging problems.