The company's primary customers are hospitals and health networks.[2] In 2023, the company received 42% of its revenue in the United States and 13% of its revenue from China, where the company faces increasing competition.[2]
The company operates in more than 100 countries. GE HealthCare has major regional operations in Buc (suburb of Paris), France; Helsinki, Finland; Kraków, Poland; Budapest, Hungary; Yizhuang (suburb of Beijing), China; Hino & Tokyo, Japan, and Bangalore, India. Its biggest R&D center is in Bangalore, India, built at a cost of $50 million.[3]
In May 2022, General Electric formed the company to own its healthcare division; it completed the corporate spin-off of the company in January 2023.
History
19th century
The company traces its roots to the Victor Electric Company, founded in 1893 in a basement by Charles F. Samms and Julius B. Wantz, previously employees of the assembly lines at the Knapp Electrical Works and Midland Electric Co. and then in their early 20s.[4] They initially focused on supplies for the dental industry.[4] At the time, they were a six-person operation.[4]
By 1896, one year after Wilhelm Röntgen's discovery, Victor Electric entered the business for X-ray machines. The business grew rapidly and so, in 1896, the company moved into new premises three times the original size.[4] This did not solve the space problems and the company made 3 office moves by 1899.[citation needed] By 1896, the company also made electrostatic generators for exciting X-ray tubes and electrotherapeutic devices.[5]
20th century
By 1903, Victor Electric had outgrown its facilities at 418 Dearborn St. in Chicago and bought two floors of a building at 55 Market Street, Chicago.[4] This was again only a temporary stop; by 1910 it was too small and the firm moved again in 1911 to a building at the corner of Jackson Blvd. and Damen Avenue. This was the first permanent home of Victor Electric Co. They stayed there 35 years and during this time, gradually acquired all the space in the building and several around it.
In 1916, the company merged with three companies: Scheidel Western, Snook-Roentgen, MacAlaster & Wiggin.[4] Victor's two founders had key roles in the new firm; Charles F. Samms was company president and Julius B. Wantz was Vice-President of manufacturing and engineering.
In 1920, Victor was acquired by General Electric and was renamed VICTOR X-RAY CORPORATION.[4][6] At that time, it was the largest manufacturer of X-ray tubes.[citation needed]
The merger of the Victor subsidiary and General Electric closed on July 28, 1926 and the company became "General Electric X-Ray Corporation".[4] The merger brought renewed vitality to the organization and Victor entered the foreign market with equipment sold and serviced in nearly 70 countries. In 1930, the Victor name was phased-out from all branding; however, advertisements did mention "formerly Victor X-Ray Corporation".[4]
Use of X-rays in industry for non-destructive testing of war materials increased during World War II. X-rays were broadly used as a medical tool for military services.
As the war ended, GE X-Ray Corporation continued to grow. Greater production capacity and greater expertise was needed in the core business of building X-ray tubes. Since the tubes were made from hand-blown glass, the decision was made to move the company 90 miles north to Milwaukee, Wisconsin, in order to tap into the enormous amount of glass-blowing talent in Milwaukee's beer-brewing industry. In 1947, the company moved from Jackson Blvd. in Chicago to a 43-acre (170,000 m2) site in the city of West Milwaukee, which had been used for building turbochargers during the war. The street was renamed Electric Avenue.[7]
In 1951, the corporate structure was dissolved and the name changed to General Electric X-Ray Department. This new name lasted less than 10 years as the department divested itself of its industrial X-ray business, widened its medical business, and took on the name of GE Medical Systems Department. One of the reasons for the name of Medical Systems was due to the increase in the electro-medical business, which began in 1961 with the introduction of patient monitoring equipment. By 1967 modular equipment was developed which was soon popular in cardiac and intensive care units. Early in 1960, pacemakers were developed in Corporate Research & Development in Schenectady, New York, and in 1969 the Standby Pacemaker was developed.
In 1968, the Biomedical Business Section opened its first factory in Edgerton Avenue. Late in 1970 a surgical package was introduced and in 1971, equipment to monitor blood gasses during surgery was introduced.
Later in 1971, Biomedical opened a 9,000 square meter admin and engineering building opposite its factory and in 1972, the section was renamed The cardio-Surgical Product Section. With the growth of its medical business, the General Electric Company upgraded the department to The Medical Systems Division in 1971. Also in 1971, a major expansion programme was started and the Waukesha factory was planned. Work started in July 1972, and was completed in 1973.
In 1974, work on CT was started and the first CT machine was installed in 1976. In June 1980, the company acquired the CT scanner business of EMI.[8]
GE Signa series MRI Scanner, used at Narayana Multispeciality Hospital, Jaipur
In 1981, GE acquired the Picker Service organization in the U.K.
In 1982, the company set up a joint venture with Yokogawa Electric. It changed its name to GE Healthcare Japan Corporation in 2009.[9]
In 1983, GE Medical started investing heavily in Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) technology, investing nearly US$1 billion in a new plant in Waukesha. It developed the MR Signa, which became very successful.
The MRI magnet plant in Florence, South Carolina, was opened a short time later, giving GE its own magnet production. It underwent a $40 million expansion in 2017.[10]
In 1983, the company split its dental and medical lines in 1983; Gendex became its dental imaging division.
In 1985 GE acquired Technicare from Johnson and Johnson. Originally named Ohio Nuclear (and in 1979, after another fusion, Ohio Nuclear Unirad), the name was changed to Technicare in 1982. Technicare (with headquarters in Cleveland, Ohio) had been producing a range of rotate-stationary CTs with an installed base in the thousands, as well as some X-ray diagnostic equipment and a nascent MRI product range.
Up to this time, the medical Systems Division had simply been divided into domestic and international, but in 1987 it reorganized into the three "poles" of America, Europe and Pacific.
In 1988, GE Medical Europe merged with CGR, a medical equipment supplier based in France, to form General Electric CGR Medical Systems. The European headquarters were moved from Hammersmith (UK) to Buc, Yvelines, near Paris.
In 1994, it changed the name in Europe from GE-CGR back to General Electric Medical Systems.
In September 1995, the company acquired Resonex, a MRI maker based in Fremont, California.[12]
In 1996, Jeff Immelt was named CEO of the company; he became CEO of GE in 2000.[13]
In April 1998, the company acquired Diasonics Vingmed from Elbit Medical Imaging of Haifa, Israel, expanding its ultrasound imaging business.[14]
In September 1998, the company acquired Marquette Medical Systems for $808 million.[15][16][17]
In November 1998, the company acquired the Nuclear and MR businesses of Elscint, (then a division of Elron, based in Haifa, Israel), for $100 million.[18]
In September 2000, the company acquired the remaining 50% of the ELGEMS joint-venture formed with Elscint in 1997.[19][20]
21st century
In 2001, the company acquired San Francisco, California–based CT maker Imatron for $210 million. Imatron produced an Electron beam tomography (EBT) scanner that performs imaging applications used by physicians specializing in cardiology, pulmonology and gastroenterology. The Imatron business was later incorporated into GE HealthCare's Diagnostic Imaging business segment.
In March 2002, the company acquired MedicaLogic, creator of the former Logician, an ambulatory Electronic Medical Records system, for approximately $32 million.[21]
In April 2002, GE HealthCare acquired Visualization Technology, a manufacturer of intra-operative medical devices and related products for use in minimally invasive image guided surgery, based in Boston.[22]
In January 2003, the company acquired Millbrook Corporation, maker of Millbrook Practice Manager, a billing and scheduling system for doctors' offices.[23]
GE HealthCare IT later merged the two products into one, although the stand-alone EMR product is still available and in development.
In 2003, GE HealthCare acquired Instrumentarium, including its Datex-Ohmeda division, a producer, manufacturer, and supplier of anesthesia machines and mechanical ventilators. To satisfy regulatory concerns in the United States and in Europe, GE HealthCare was forced to divest Instrumentarium's Ziehm Imaging mobile C-arm business, as well as its Spacelabs patient-monitoring unit.[24]
Packaging radioactive pharmaceuticals at GE HealthCare's facility in Amersham, England
Also in 2004, GE HealthCare along with other healthcare companies built a research reactor for neutron and unit cell research at GE's European Research Center near Garching (outside of Munich), Germany. It is the only such reactor currently in operation.
In 2006, Sir William Castell resigned as CEO to become Chairman of the Wellcome Trust, a charity that fosters and promotes human and animal research—in the United Kingdom. Former GE Medical Systems CEO Joe Hogan then became CEO.[27]
In January 2006, the company acquired IDX Systems Corporation for $1.2 billion. IDX was folded into GE HealthCare Integrated IT Solutions, which specializes in clinical information systems and healthcare revenue management.[28][29]
In February 2008, GE HealthCare acquired Whatman plc, a global supplier of filtration products and technologies for £363 million.[30]
In July 2008, Joseph Hogan announced his intent to leave his post as CEO of GE HealthCare to take the role of CEO at ABB. John Dineen, head of GE's Transportation division since 2005, was named CEO.[31]
In March 2010, the company acquired MedPlexus.[32] The company then offered its first electronic medical record product in a software-as-a-service platform.[33]
In April 2010, the company announced it was investing €3 million in the Technology Research for Independent Living Centre (TRIL). The Irish centre seeks to enhance independence for elderly people through technological innovation.[34][35]
In January 2016, the company announced the move of its global headquarters to Chicago effective early 2016.[37][38][39]
In June 2017, Kieran Murphy was named CEO of the company, and former CEO John L. Flannery was named CEO of GE.[40][41]
In April 2018, the company sold several healthcare information technology assets to Veritas Capital for $1.05 billion.[42]
In June 2018, GE first announced plans to spin off GE HealthCare.[43][44] However, the plan was delayed after GE sold its biopharma business to Danaher Corporation for $21.4 billion.[45]
In January 2021, the company acquired Prismatic Sensors AB, focused on Deep Silicon detector technology.[46][47][48]
In July 2021, the company integrated technology from Spectronic Medical to create artificial intelligence-based software.[50]
In November 2021, General Electric announced it would split into 3 publicly-traded companies, with GE HealthCare being one of the three.[51] The spin-off of GE HealthCare was completed on 4 January 2023.[52][53]
In December 2021, the company acquired BK Medical from Altaris Capital Partners for $1.45 billion.[54]
In July 2024, the company acquired the clinical artificial intelligence business from Intelligent Ultrasound for $51 million.[56]
Criticism
Gadolinium-based contrast agents
In 1994, GE HealthCare ignored advice of its safety experts to proactively restrict the use of its MRI contrast agent, Omniscan.[57] It also tried to conceal evidence of its risks by telling its researchers to "burn the data", as revealed during a trial opposing debilitated consumers[58] due to its accumulation in multiple organs.
In 2009, GE HealthCare sued for defamation a radiologist at the University of Copenhagen Hospital who linked the uses of Omniscan to gadolinium induced fibrosis after 20 of his patients (from which 1 died) suffered from it after its administration.[59]
in 2017, GE HealthCare opposed the European Medicines Agency (EMA) suspending the use of Omniscan (along other linear agents), despite evidence of the high cytotoxicity of gadodiamide[60] and its likelihood to dissociate after deposition.
In a 2020 study, another MRI dye, Clariscan, was retained more in the cerebrum, cerebellum, kidney and liver of rats than those injected Dotarem, its original drug.[61] Although the authors didn't provide a possible explanation, differences in the chelation process of gadolinium ions (Guerbet's process being patented) or quality assurance could be causes of increased retention in vivo.
Low taxes paid in the United Kingdom
According to a report in The Independent in January 2016, the company received more money back in tax benefits (£1.6 million) in the UK in the previous 12 years than it paid. Its UK operations are all ultimately owned by a holding company in the Netherlands. Tax paid was £250,000, 1.7% of its £14.3 million profit. The company employs 22,000 people in the UK.[62]
Overbilling the government
In 2011, the company agreed to pay $30 million to settle allegations that a company it acquired in 2004, Amersham Health, violated the False Claims Act of 1863 by knowingly providing false or misleading information to Medicare, causing the government to reimburse Myoview at artificially inflated rates. By maximizing the number of times a vial of the solution was used, health care providers billed Medicare multiple times for the product. A whistleblower received $5.1 million in the settlement.[63][64]
Reliability of imaging system
The company supplies a cloud-based imaging system to the East Midlands Radiology Consortium, which was described in October 2017 as breaking down, so that medical images had to be sent between hospitals by taxi.[65]
Operations
GE HealthCare has a range of products and services that include medical imaging and information technologies, electronic medical records, medical diagnostics, and patient monitoring systems. GE HealthCare consists of 4 primary business units:[66]
Healthcare Digital, headquartered in Chicago, Illinois, US.[67]
Healthcare Digital provides clinical & financial information technology such as departmental IT products, RIS/PACS (Radiology Information Systems/Picture Archiving and Communication Systems), CVIS (Cardiovascular Information Systems), Cloud based products as well as revenue cycle management and practice applications. The GE Health Cloud is their latest AWS based cloud offering with case exchange and multi-disciplinary teams (MDT) capabilities. Additional internal co-development partnerships include protocol management and automated protocol selection capabilities.
Former IDX, GE HealthCare's IT business will have its global headquarters in Barrington, Illinois, with major offices in South Burlington, Vermont; Boston; Seattle; and London, along with satellite offices both within and outside the United States.[68]
Patient Care Solutions (PCS), led by Tom Westrick, headquartered in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, US.
Provides tools for critical care, ECG, anesthesia delivery, neonatal intensive care, labor & delivery, preoperative and home care.
Magnetic Resonance (MR), led by Jie Xue, headquartered in Waukesha (near Milwaukee), Wisconsin, US
Molecular Imaging & Computed Tomography (MICT), led by Jean-Luc Procaccini, (previously Michael J. Barber)[69] headquartered in Waukesha (near Milwaukee), Wisconsin, US.
Provides tools and technologies for cardiac, surgical and interventional care, from cardiac catheterization labs, diagnostic monitoring systems, data management systems to mobile fluoroscopic imaging systems, navigation and 3D visualization instrumentation.
Ultrasound (US), led by Roland Rott.
Produces ultrasound products for general imaging, cardiology, women's health, point of care and primary care, as well as related IT tools.
Global Services, led by Luiz Verzegnassi,[70] headquartered in Greater Milwaukee Area, WI, US.
