GE Healthcare is to invest $2bn over the next five years to develop software for healthcare systems and applications.

The company plans to focus on the convergence of machine and intelligent data, known as the Industrial Internet, in order to “address new and pressing operational and productivity challenges faced by healthcare organisations”

Explaining the concept, GE Healthcare Software's chief technology officer Evren Eryurek said: “The Industrial Internet represents an open, global ecosystem of highly intelligent machines that connect, communicate and cooperate with each other and people, leading to breakthrough levels of efficiency and productivity.

“Just like the internet transformed communication years ago, the Industrial Internet is turning the lines of communication between the caregiver and the patient from a winding dirt road into an express highway.”

Its new investment will be focused on maximising asset performance, improving hospital operations management, improving clinical effectiveness and optimising care across entire populations.

Specifically, the company will look at how software could assist with:

• Caring for more patients as a result of scheduling efficiencies, faster data entry, proactive asset management and clinical decision support

• Reducing costs by optimising workflow in care delivery, minimising payment cycles, maximising reimbursement rates and eliminating unnecessary waste

• Minimising rework and redundancies by enhancing collaboration and making patient information universally accessible.

“Healthcare has always relied on 'big data', and the need to understand data is even greater now. What is important is how we use data, providing the right technology that allows physicians to pinpoint the right diagnosis; match it to the right treatment; and make more informed decisions,” said John Dineen, president and CEO at GE Healthcare.

He added: “These new software solutions will look to connect caregivers in a meaningful way to the systems upon which they rely, enabling them to deliver better informed diagnoses and improved care.”

GE Healthcare already provides a wide range of IT services, patient monitoring and diagnostic tools and biopharmaceutical manufacturing technologies.

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