GE HealthCare inks 10-year strategic collaboration with 20-hospital health system

GE HealthCare has inked a 10-year strategic collaboration agreement with a more than 150-year-old, 20-hospital Midwest health system, the imaging industry giant announced on Thursday.

Under terms of the deal, Cleveland-based University Hospitals will add “hundreds” of new radiology systems across its enterprise. They’ll include artificial intelligence-enabled technologies spanning nuclear medicine, X-ray, vascular and cardiovascular ultrasound, CT, fluoroscopy, surgery, and bone densitometry.

GE HealthCare will serve as the sole imaging provider across these modalities for University Hospitals, which also operates the Harrington Heart & Vascular Institute, 50 health centers and outpatient facilities, and 200 physician offices in 16 counties across northern Ohio.  

“GE HealthCare’s solutions across the diagnostic spectrum and ongoing pursuit of system optimization and patient care efficiencies will help us improve the patient experience and their overall health,” UH Chief Operating Officer Paul Hinchey, MD, MBA, said in an Oct. 5 announcement.

The pact also will include standardization and automation of protocols across CT devices, ongoing education and training for technologists and physicians, and a digital command center to oversee the entire fleet. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

GE HealthCare recently inked a $30 million CT deal with St. Luke’s University Health Network earlier this year, one of the largest such deals in the hospital group's 150-year history. The Mayo Clinic and GE also signed a strategic collaboration in September focused around imaging and theranostics.