GE and Microsoft launch Caradigm in UK

Caradigm, a joint venture between GE Healthcare and Microsoft, focused on healthcare business intelligence tools, has launched in the UK.

The company has appointed Richard Craven, formerly sales director with Cerner, as its UK managing director.

Created last March, when GE Healthcare and Microsoft pooled the majority of their health software assets, the joint venture is based around the Caradigm Intelligence Platform, formerly known as Microsoft Amalga, and on identity and access management tools.

In a further move, the joint venture has also expanded its alliance with Orion Health, to integrate its health interoperability exchange solutions into its intelligence platform.

Caradigm says its solutions will enable NHS and private healthcare organisations to make strategic decisions about the management of patient populations, improving quality and controlling costs.

Craven told EHI: “The intelligence platform provides the ability to aggregate multiple sources of data and have a health system wide view of quality and operational performance.”

He added that the platform can be used in conjunction with existing electronic patient record systems.

The two main reference sites for the BI platform are former Microsoft customers: Milton Keynes, which has used it to manage A&E attendances; and Southampton, which has focused on readmissions.

Craven said the platform also had significant potential to enable clinical commissioning groups to be more intelligent about the quality of the care provided for their populations.

Roy Shubhabrata, vice president of product strategy for EMEA, said meeting the challenges of NHS reform required agility and adaptability.

He said Caradigm products enabled organisations “to transform their huge wealth of data into a strategic asset that facilitates collaboration, drives improvement and helps enable management of patients across the care continuum.”

The company told EHI it is seeking new partners in the UK to extend the intelligence platform by developing applications designed to tackle specific challenges such as managing hospital re-admissions, emergency care usage and infection control.

“We’re looking for partners to develop on the platform and leverage its capabilities,” said Shubhabrata.

Caradigm is also offering identity and access management solutions. For the UK, this will initially comprise single sign-on and context management tools.

Caradigm has partnered with two UK specialists – OCSL and aurionPro SENA – on identity and access management.

OCSL has already used Caradigm’s IAM product in the development of its acceSSOnce solution at Luton and Dunstable Hospital NHS Foundation Trust.