USA — Advantus Health Partners and GE HealthCare have entered into a partnership to expand access to healthcare technology management (HTM) services to Advantus Health Partners’ clients in a deal worth up to US$760 million over 10 years.
The partnership will enable Advantus Health Partners to offer its clients complete management of medical equipment in healthcare facilities, including ongoing maintenance, monitoring for and addressing recalls, disinfection and distribution, and more.
By outsourcing medical equipment management to GE HealthCare, Advantus Health Partners’ clients can reduce costs and improve productivity by standardizing processes to manage equipment across healthcare systems and proactively monitoring data safety.
The partnership also gives Advantus’ clients access to GE HealthCare’s Encompass, a real-time location system technology that tracks and locates a provider’s equipment, enabling caregivers to spend less time searching for equipment and more time with patients.
Other services include asset management and an advanced scopes program, which includes a proactive service strategy for endoscopes.
Other services provided include advanced asset management and an advanced scopes program with a proactive service strategy for endoscopes.
The significance of this partnership lies in the offloading of medical equipment management to a specialized provider, GE HealthCare, which has the expertise, technology, and resources to provide comprehensive management of medical equipment.
By outsourcing this task, Advantus Health Partners’ clients can focus on their core business of providing quality care to patients, while benefiting from cost savings and improved productivity.
The partnership also provides a scalable, end-to-end solution for managing medical equipment performance and risk, which will benefit healthcare providers as they continue to evolve and adapt to meet the changing needs of their communities.
Meanwhile, GE HealthCare has completed the enrolment of patients in Phase I of its clinical development program for a manganese-based macrocyclic MRI contrast agent.
The contrast agent is expected to be diagnostically similar to gadolinium-based contrast agents, which are commonly used in MRI scans to improve the visualization of abnormal structures or lesions and differentiate between healthy and pathological tissue.
The new investigational agent is expected to be a potential alternative to gadolinium-based agents, which have been associated with retention concerns.
The clinical study will assess the safety profile of the injectable manganese contrast agent and its elimination from the body, in healthy volunteers.
Since its spinoff from General Electric in January 2023, GE HealthCare has wasted no time in making two major acquisitions.
The latest acquisition is Caption Health, a company that uses artificial intelligence to assist in conducting ultrasound scans, which will support GE HealthCare’s US$3 billion ultrasound business.
The previous acquisition was Imactis, a French developer of CT interventional guidance technology, which will give GE HealthCare access to the CT Interventional Guidance market.
These acquisitions demonstrate GE HealthCare’s commitment to expanding its portfolio and investing in new technologies to improve patient outcomes.
The spinoff from General Electric was part of a plan to break up the company into three parts, and the successful completion of the spinoff has allowed GE HealthCare to focus on its growth and innovation strategy.
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