GE Healthcare and NBC Universal Launches Digital Health Solutions

NBC/Healthcare IT FAQs

What are we saying at HIMSS? GE Healthcare and NBC Universal are working together on a new initiative to advance the personalization of consumer healthcare

• Initiative combines GEHC’s clinical technologies with NBCU’s healthcare content and access points
• Goal is to connect consumers across the continuum of health - including physicians, payers, the extended care team and patient family members
• Collaboration is based on a multi-phased approach that will develop solutions and a common platform to improve the clinical experience
  • Initially, the first phase of the initiative will aim to improve patient outcomes by enhancing the connection between physicians and patients
  • In the future, the initiative will release discrete digital offerings focused on extending clinical care to consumers and eventually into the home

What is this initiative?  Our collaboration crosses the spectrum to bring early health to the patient at home, creating meaningful opportunities for the patient to digitally manage healthcare decisions throughout the episodes of care

• Beyond providing consumers with digital health information, we believe the solution is combining information technology in ways that support early diagnosis, quality of care and access to personalized health information
• Consumers need meaningful information and the opportunity to play an active role in their healthcare – and it supports the quality of patient outcomes
  • Today, 15% of US online consumers with medical conditions participate in discussion boards/forums or chat rooms, and 12% used an online health forum or discussion board in the past 12 months, according to Forrester
  • Today, 93% of US online seniors have been diagnosed with a medical condition, according to Forrester

• GE’s differentiation is the ability to create a holistic view without the disparities of a piecemeal infrastructure. The combination of assets will provide the ability to leverage legacy clinical content and strengthen the reach of information flow.
• Our approach is also differentiated from the industry. We are centering our strategy on clinical technology and weaving the consumer interface across the multiple episodes of care.
• GEHC IT/NBCU believe, contrary to the industry, that a consumer health model can only succeed if clinical data is preserved at the core of the strategy, connecting the patient to the healthcare universe.

• We have a responsibility to assure the online environment we create for the consumer improves the quality of care and reinforces our vision of early health
• Consumers are actively looking for ways they can manage their life online:
• The #2 reason consumers go online is for information on personal health
• JupiterResearch: Estimates that consumer spending on video delivered via Internet totaled only $185 million in 2007
• JupiterResearch: According to a recent survey, as many as 46 percent of overall online users said they were interested in viewing online health video
• The untapped area of care is beyond the doctor’s visit and extends to wellness, lifestyles and day to day interaction
• Forrester: Different diseases lead to different participation levels. For example, just 14% of US online diabetics use Social Computing for health, where the median age is 54; yet 20% of US online consumers with cancer use Social Computing for health, among whom the median age is 61