GE Healthcare, HCL form healthcare IT partnership

Hospital equipment and technology provider GE Healthcare has announced the forming of a partnership with HCL Technologies Ltd for providing comprehensive healthcare solutions.

The structured partnership will offer service in all aspects of healthcare IT lifecycle – planning, deployment, customisation, and ongoing maintenance - a GE Healthcare release said.

Through the partnership, GE Healthcare will certify HCL on its core healthcare IT offering `Centricity Enterprise' and integrate HCL into its `Digital Day One' initiative, which will help new hospitals in emerging markets to start off as fully digital hospitals, the release said.

''The new ''Digital Day One'' provides an ''IT starter kit'' that aims to reduce the digital divide between new hospitals in emerging markets and those in mature markets, providing every hospital with the same opportunity to improve the way healthcare is delivered,'' GE Healthcare said in the release.

Aspetar Hospital in Qatar and the Qatar Foundation are partnering with GE Healthcare on this healthcare IT solution, according to the release.

''This initiative will provide rapid deployment, low-cost licensing and an expanded ecosystem. During initial testing, ''Digital for Day One'' pilot sites improved efficiency by 33 per cent in construction of new hospitals,'' it said.

HCL will support these new hospitals in realising the ''fast track'' deployment option, in addition to supporting customers worldwide in leveraging these new capabilities to optimise their existing healthcare IT systems.

''Making Digital Day One a reality will require a massive ecosystem, with systems integrators playing a critical role. To have an industry leader like HCL join forces with us is a significant step forward and a great endorsement of our approach,'' said Laurent Rotival, vice president and general manager, GE Healthcare IT. ''Together, we send a clear message to the marketplace about our focus on quality and customer satisfaction, which will be critical to all of our efforts by working closely with HCL,'' he added.

''We're aligned with GE's vision and approach in every way and are proud to be their strategic systems integration partner,'' said Shami Khorana, president for HCL Technologies for North and South America, adding, ''This partnership is crucial to accelerating our market position and provide significant new value to our existing customers by focusing. We are also working closely with GE to expand our sales efforts and working to take a leadership position as a complete healthcare IT provider from pre-sales to deployment to support.''

The two companies are already ramping up HCL staff on Centricity Enterprise and related GE Healthcare IT offerings in preparation for certification and in-market customer engagement, the release added.