GE Healthcare and Intel have expanded their agreement to market the Intel Health Guide in the UK.
The Health Guide is a home telehealth device designed to help patients with chronic conditions better manage their health. The unit enables patients to communicate with healthcare professionals and provides clinicians with access to current patient data.
Intel says the Health Guide also provides interactive tools for personalised care management. These include: vital sign collection, patient reminders, surveys, multimedia educational content, and feedback and communications tools such as video conferencing and alerts.
Last summer, GE and Intel announced that they had joined forces to develop hi-tech health care products that will allow patients to be treated at home.
GE Healthcare says its capabilities in disease management and its distribution reach in the UK will now help drive sales. The US conglomerate already markets the device in the US.
Agnes Berzsenyi, general manager of GE Healthcare’s Home Health business, said: “Both the Department of Health and the NHS are leading some very progressive policy development and pilot programs in this area, and we hope that our home health business and expanded agreement with Intel into the UK will contribute to that.”
In 2009 the companies said they would invest €184m over the next five years to market and develop home-based health technologies that will help older people live independently and patients with chronic conditions manage their care from home.
Mariah Scott, Intel’s Digital Health Group’s director of sales and marketing said: “Intel has been working with PCTs, Health Trusts, carer organisations and policy makers in the United Kingdom to support the adoption of innovation in UK healthcare delivery and on a number of telehealth pilot schemes.”
She said collaboration with GE Healthcare in the United Kingdom will bring improved understanding of this type of technology to a wider audience and “increase the rate of adoption for telehealth systems as a method to help address chronic care challenges and bring benefits to patients and the NHS.”
Links