Microsoft, General Electric set up joint healthcare venture

PanARMENIAN.Net - Microsoft and General Electric's healthcare IT business are setting up a 50:50 joint venture to develop and market an open, interoperable technology platform and clinical applications for enabling better population health management, the companies said Thursday, December 8.

According to IDG News Service, the new company, to be headquartered near Microsoft's campus in Redmond, Washington, will develop an open platform that will give healthcare providers and independent software vendors (ISVs) the ability to develop a new generation of clinical applications. It will also develop healthcare applications on the platform using in-house developers, that will connect to a wide range of healthcare IT products from various vendors, the companies said.

The joint venture, which will operate globally, is expected to launch in the first half of next year after meeting customary conditions, including regulatory approvals, the companies said.

It is expected to employ more than 700 staff at the start, with a majority of employees currently working in Microsoft Health Solutions Group and the Healthcare Knowledge & Connectivity Solutions group at GE Healthcare IT transferring to the joint venture subject to the transaction closing, said Sebastien Duchamp, a spokesman for GE Healthcare.

The companies did not however disclose the investment by GE Healthcare and Microsoft in the joint venture which is yet to be named. It will have a presence in Salt Lake City, Utah and additional cities around the world.

The joint venture aims in the long term to offer a healthcare performance management suite that includes many of these products.

After the venture is set up, both Microsoft and GE will continue to sell other products and services to healthcare organizations around the globe.