Demonstrating its commitment to be a complete solutions provider of healthcare systems, GE Healthcare is showcasing a wide range of medical-related technologies and services at the Hospital Build Asia 2010 exhibition and conference, to be held in Singapore from May 11 to 13.
GE Healthcare’s technology portfolio is aimed at helping healthcare and hospital administrators improve the consistency, quality and efficiency of patient care. The market-leading technologies that GE Healthcare is able to deliver have also allowed the company to play a leading role in a growing number of global hospital partnership projects with a sustainability focus.
Economic and social forces are driving the need for hospitals to strengthen their environmental credentials. And as the Asia Pacific region continues to grow in terms of strategic importance in the global healthcare sector, investments in sustainable healthcare infrastructure are set to increase significantly.
“GE Healthcare is working closely with the public and private hospitals in Singapore to establish the blueprint for green hospitals of the future,” says Tommy Tan, Government Relations Director, ASEAN, at GE Healthcare. “There will be an increasing number of healthcare facilities built in Singapore and Southeast Asia over the next 5 to 10 years, which will in turn lead to a growth in demand for green solutions that help hospitals reduce their carbon footprint and achieve resource optimization.”
Hospitals typically have a large environmental footprint, consuming three times the energy of a commercial building. This has prompted hospitals around the world to look for ways to reduce energy and resource consumption by building more environmentally friendly facilities while continuing to deliver high levels of patient care.
GE Healthcare’s green hospital approach is focused on improving energy efficiency, optimizing resource consumption, and increasing the share of renewables in energy generation for a significant reduction of carbon footprint. GE Healthcare is also able to leverage the breakthrough innovations of its Global Research Centers to develop leading-edge green hospital concepts.
GE Healthcare’s broad-based technologies offer a portfolio of solutions for green hospitals, including: the Jenbacher CHP system, which utilizes the waste heat incurred during engine operation to generate overall plant efficiencies of more than 90 percent; a suite of energy efficient equipment, such as in the area of medical imaging; and advanced energy management systems.
As lighting is one of the critical factors to be taken into consideration at many hospitals, GE Healthcare is showcasing a range of energy-efficient lighting products to reduce energy consumption and operating costs.
“We are able to leverage our experience in developing the best environmental practices that can help reduce energy bills and build more energy efficient lighting systems for the hospitals of the future,” says Malek El-Husseini, Business Development Director, Middle East, at GE Healthcare.
The deployment of advanced IT technologies is another area where hospitals today can reduce environmental impact. GE Healthcare’s IT portfolio provide the technology infrastructure and sophisticated task management capabilities to enable more efficient care in the hospital sector.
These solutions range from business software that helps improve efficiency and enhance the patient experience to clinical and imaging solutions that help drive greater productivity and boost patient safety.
Active Technology Partnership
Besides the supply of the latest green hospital solutions, GE Healthcare offers advisory services to help hospitals plan their equipment requirements and budgets to deliver the latest technologies and lower TCOs through long term partnerships.
One of the biggest challenges faced by healthcare providers is in the management of efficiency and effectiveness associated with modern healthcare delivery. GE Healthcare’s Active Technology Partnership (ATP) enables hospitals to flexibly monitor equipment budget over a long period of time while managing technology obsolescence through planned equipment renewals.
The ATP platform provides the roadmap for clinical continuity and financial predictability, and these long-term partnerships can help hospitals adapt to the changes of the healthcare environment by leveraging GE Healthcare’s medical equipment services.
“Through the ATP platform, we are able to offer our customers a strategic partnership that both focuses on the lifecycle management of a hospital’s medical equipment and provides the operational structure to sustain this long-term equipment roadmap over time,” explains Tan. “It caters to the specific needs of our partners and it has the potential to deliver a range of innovative and pragmatic solutions to allow hospitals to focus more on clinical service delivery. ATP may also be used in a green hospital project as one of several modules to reduce the number of systems used, thus reducing energy consumption.”
GE Healthcare’s presence in ASEAN
GE Healthcare is seeing significant growth opportunities in hospital infrastructure for the ASEAN region. In 2009, GE Healthcare generated US$143 million in revenue from its ASEAN businesses. 3
GE’s Integrated Care Solutions provide hospitals a comprehensive overview of the technology and business metrics related to specific care areas. And in each of the major care areas, GE Healthcare’s technology portfolio is able to cover the whole continuum of care from prediction to diagnostics, treatment and monitoring.
Healthymagination – driving better cost, access and quality
Launched in May 2009, GE’s global healthymagination initiative is focused on four critical needs: low-cost technology; healthcare IT; innovation accessible to all; and consumer-driven healthcare.
GE will more than double its research and development spending on healthymagination products, as well as committing to spend US$3 billion over the next six years on healthcare innovations that will help deliver better care to more people at lower cost.
The drive to provide improved medical access to rural populations in Asia has also been identified as another growth driver in the region. In March 2010, as part of the ‘healthymagination’ innovation push, GE announced its interest to partner with the Indonesian government to help improve the country’s rural health environment.
In 2006, GE established its Ecomagination business initiative to help meet customer demand for more energy efficient products while investing in the development of innovations that address environmental challenges.
About GE Healthcare
GE Healthcare provides transformational medical technologies and services that are shaping a new age of patient care. Our broad expertise in medical imaging and information technologies, medical diagnostics, patient monitoring systems, drug discovery, biopharmaceutical manufacturing technologies, performance improvement and performance solutions services help our customers to deliver better care to more people around the world at a lower cost. In addition, we partner with healthcare leaders, striving to leverage the global policy change necessary to implement a successful shift to sustainable healthcare systems.
Our "healthymagination" vision for the future invites the world to join us on our journey as we continuously develop innovations focused on reducing costs, increasing access and improving quality and efficiency around the world. Headquartered in the United Kingdom, GE Healthcare is a $17 billion unit of General Electric Company (NYSE: GE). Worldwide, GE Healthcare employs more than 46,000 people committed to serving healthcare professionals and their patients in more than 100 countries. For more information about GE Healthcare, visit our website at www.gehealthcare.com.
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