GE and Intel announced Monday that their joint healthcare initiative will be called Care Innovations, and that the company is operational starting today. Care Innovations will develop technologies that support healthy, independent living at home and in senior housing communities.

The go-live of Care Innovations follows the success of the healthcare alliance between Intel and GE, first announced in April of 2009. The venture, which combines assets and the expert teams and operations of both GE Healthcare's Home Health division and Intel's Digital Health Group, has received final regulatory clearances.

Officials say Care Innovations' executive leadership team and board of managers are now in place to support the company’s transition and future growth.

With the market segments for telehealth and home health monitoring predicted to grow to an estimated $7.7 billion by 2012, the jointly-owned company’s focus will be to help address some of the largest issues facing society today, including the aging population, the growing number of people with chronic conditions and increasing healthcare costs.

“Our vision as we launch this exciting new company is for Care Innovations to positively affect millions of people by providing innovative products and services that will enable new models of care,” said Louis Burns, CEO of Care Innovations. “Our passionate leadership team and board of managers will help drive the business strategy necessary to improve quality of care and patient empowerment while helping reduce healthcare costs through new technologies.”

Burns is joined by an experienced senior leadership team with a breadth of knowledge in healthcare, business strategy, sales and marketing, and product development in the company’s core focus areas: disease management, independent living and assistive technologies. That team includes:

• Douglas F. Busch, Senior Vice President, Chief Operating Officer
• Lauren Salata, Vice President, Chief Financial Officer and Chief Compliance Officer
• Michael Bassett, General Manager of Assistive Technologies
• Becky Davis, Director of Corporate Marketing
• Eric Dishman, Director of Health Policy
• Aaron Duerksen, General Manager of Disease Management
• Bonnie Norman, Director of Quality Assurance and Regulatory Affairs
• James Pursley, General Manager of Independent Living
• Randall Swanson, Vice President, Business Operations

In addition to Burns, GE and Intel have also appointed four board members to Care Innovations to represent the interests of the parent companies. Senior Vice President of GE and President and CEO of GE Healthcare Systems, Omar Ishrak, is chairman of the board for the company. GE has also appointed Michael Jones, executive vice president of business development for GE International, as a board member. Intel board members include Robert Crooke, corporate vice president and general manager of Intel’s Atom and System-on-a-Chip Development Group (ASDG), and Patricia Murray, senior vice president and director of human resources.

Care Innovations markets remote patient monitoring, independent living concepts and assistive technologies, such as the Intel Health Guide, Intel Reader and GE QuietCare. The company is also continuing to develop healthcare IT innovations to help enable providers to drive toward lower costs and a higher quality of life for patients worldwide.