GE Healthcare expands Home Health business with new acquisition

GE Healthcare, a unit of General Electric Company (NYSE:GE), announced today that it has acquired Living Independently Group, Inc., the provider of QuietCare^®, a passive monitoring system used to assist in the care of seniors. The acquisition follows the September 2008 announcement that GE Healthcare had acquired a minority ownership stake in Living Independently Group and that the two companies had agreed to market and co-develop the QuietCare technology globally. Financial terms were not disclosed.

Living Independently Group’s product, QuietCare, is a passive activity monitoring system that uses wireless sensors to non-intrusively track the daily patterns of seniors’ activities. QuietCare alerts caregivers to behavioral changes that may signal potential health issues or emergency situations, allowing earlier intervention. QuietCare is used in many leading assisted living facilities and senior communities across the United States. GE Healthcare is a world-class provider of advanced technologies for patient monitoring and the diagnosis of disease. The strategic fit between the two businesses, combined with expanded capabilities in product development and marketing, will offer significant long-term customer benefits. In September 2009, QuietCare was independently accredited as a “Healthymagination product”, under GE’s Healthymagination initiative to increase access, reduce cost and increase quality in healthcare delivery.

“We’re very excited about expanding our Home Health business through this acquisition. Since entering into a strategic relationship with Living Independently Group, we’ve seen that combining the vision and talent of our two companies is helping accelerate the development of new technologies for the care of seniors. Increasing pressure on healthcare budgets worldwide, coupled with demographic changes such as the growing aging population, present enormous healthcare challenges in the care of seniors and the management of patients with chronic disease. The technologies developed by Living Independently Group are ideally placed to help meet these challenges globally. They’re also a great fit with our vision of helping people to live longer, healthier and higher quality lives,” said Agnes Berzsenyi, General Manager of GE Healthcare’s Home Health business.

GE Healthcare has made significant investments in its Home Health business over the past year. In November 2008 the company announced it was leading a consortium of Hungarian companies and universities to develop remote monitoring technologies for seniors and patients with chronic diseases. In April 2009, GE Healthcare and Intel announced an alliance to invest $250 million in the development of new technologies to assist independent living for seniors and patients with chronic diseases. GE Healthcare also markets the Intel® Health Guide in the United States.