GE Plans Expansion for Health Care and Tech Segment

By Chris Lange Published Sep 23, 8:50AM EDT

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General Electric Co. (NYSE: GE) is planning to expand its health care and technology segment, according to a release early Wednesday morning. The company announced the creation of a new business unit, Sustainable Healthcare Solutions (SHS), which will develop high-value, low-cost technologies and health care delivery solutions across multiple care settings.

The new organization will invest $300 million as part of a multi-phase effort to develop a more robust affordable health care portfolio for customers. The unit will combine GE Healthcare’s operations in India, South Asia, Africa and Southeast Asia.

SHS will work with governments, clinicians, private operators and NGOs to deliver value-based solutions aimed at improving outcomes for health systems and patients. Currently it covers 70 markets, including India and South Asia, Africa and Southeast Asia, with a focus on increasing access for 5.8 billion people around the world without basic health.

John Flannery, president and CEO of GE Healthcare, said:

Much of the world’s population is without adequate healthcare, and innovations that can create better patient outcomes in a sustainable way are urgently needed. Many emerging economies are looking for experienced partners to help build skills, capacity and effective healthcare solutions for their patients.

Ultimately this reinforces GE Healthcare’s ongoing commitment to supporting the global health care ecosystem in attaining the new 2030 Sustainable Development Goals being ratified at the UN General Assembly 2015 this week in New York.

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Terri Bresenham, president and CEO of GE Healthcare’s Sustainable Healthcare Solutions unit, added:

SHS will leverage GE’s Fastworks methodology to accelerate, test and rapidly commercialize relevant, affordable technologies. By taking this ‘start-up’ model approach we can rapidly test new ideas, products and services to maximize effectiveness for customers before we scale up. From basic primary care delivery through to more complex, structural healthcare challenges, SHS will aim to combine GE Healthcare’s capabilities and scale with the local know-how and expertise of our partners across Africa, Southeast Asia, India and South Asia.

Shares of GE closed Tuesday relatively flat, at $25.11 in a 52-week trading range of $19.37 to $28.68. In early trading indications Wednesday, shares were down 0.3% at $25.03. The stock has a consensus analyst price target of $29.85.

About the Author Chris Lange →

Chris Lange is a writer for 24/7 Wall St., based in Houston. He has covered financial markets over the past decade with an emphasis on healthcare, tech, and IPOs. During this time, he has published thousands of articles with insightful analysis across these complex fields. Currently, Lange's focus is on military and geopolitical topics.

Lange's work has been quoted or mentioned in Forbes, The New York Times, Business Insider, USA Today, MSN, Yahoo, The Verge, Vice, The Intelligencer, Quartz, Nasdaq, The Motley Fool, Fox Business, International Business Times, The Street, Seeking Alpha, Barron’s, Benzinga, and many other major publications.

A graduate of Southwestern University in Georgetown, Texas, Lange majored in business with a particular focus on investments. He has previous experience in the banking industry and startups.