GE Healthcare, a unit of General Electric Company announced 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.
