GE HealthCare

GE Healthcare Technologies, Inc. is an American health technology company based in Chicago, Illinois. The company, which stylizes its own name as GE HealthCare, operates four divisions: Medical imaging, which includes molecular imaging, computed tomography, magnetic resonance, women’s health screening and X-ray systems; Ultrasound; Patient Care Solutions, which is focused on remote patient monitoring, anesthesia and respiratory care, diagnostic cardiology, and infant care; and Pharmaceutical Diagnostics, which manufactures contrast agents and radiopharmaceuticals.<ref name=10K-2024/>

The company's primary customers are hospitals and health networks.<ref name=still>Template:Cite news</ref> In 2023, the company received 42% of its revenue in the United States and 13% of its revenue from China, where the company faces increasing competition.<ref name=still/>

The company operates in more than 100 countries. GE HealthCare has major regional operations in Buc (suburb of Paris), France; Helsinki, Finland; Kraków, Poland; Budapest, Hungary; Yizhuang (suburb of Beijing), China; Hino & Tokyo, Japan, and Bangalore, India. Its biggest R&D center is in Bangalore, India, built at a cost of $50 million.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

In May 2022, General Electric formed the company to own its healthcare division; it completed the corporate spin-off of the company in January 2023.

History

Founding and early growth

GE HealthCare traces its roots to the Victor Electric Company, founded in 1893 in a basement by Charles F. Samms and Julius B. Wantz, previously employees of the assembly lines at the Knapp Electrical Works and Midland Electric Co. and then in their early 20s.<ref name="made">Template:Cite web</ref> They initially focused on supplies for the dental industry.<ref name="made" /> At the time, they were a six-person operation.<ref name="made" />

By 1896, one year after Wilhelm Röntgen's discovery, Victor Electric entered the business for X-ray machines. The business grew rapidly and so, in 1896, the company moved into new premises three times the original size.<ref name="made" /> By 1896, the company also made electrostatic generators for exciting X-ray tubes and electrotherapeutic devices.<ref>Template:Citation</ref>

By 1903, Victor Electric had outgrown its facilities at 418 Dearborn St. in Chicago and bought two floors of a building at 55 Market Street, Chicago.<ref name="made" /> This was again only a temporary stop; by 1910 it was too small and the firm moved again in 1911 to a building at the corner of Jackson Blvd. and Damen Avenue. This was the first permanent home of Victor Electric Co. They stayed there 35 years and during this time, gradually acquired all the space in the building and several around it.

In 1916, the company merged with three companies: Scheidel Western, Snook-Roentgen, MacAlaster & Wiggin.<ref name="made" /> Victor's two founders had key roles in the new firm; Charles F. Samms was company president and Julius B. Wantz was Vice-President of manufacturing and engineering.

Acquisition by General Electric

In 1920, GE HealthCare entered the imaging technology business with the acquisition of Victor Electric Company, founded in 1893. By 1930 it was renamed to GE X-Ray;<ref name=":3">Template:Cite book</ref>Template:Reference page Before the introduction of the CT scanner in the 1970s and the MRI scanner in the 1980s, it declined to around 2% of GE's sales among the 120 departments in the conglomerate.<ref name=":3" />Template:Reference page

In the 1990s the department began to diversify into various medtech businesses and executed 94 acquisitions between 1995 and 2017.<ref name=":3" />Template:Reference page It also continued to invest in research and development, with over 3800 patents between 2000 and 2009.<ref name=":3" />Template:Reference page

Moving from X-Rays to Medical as GE Medical System

Use of X-rays in industry for non-destructive testing of war materials increased during World War II. X-rays were broadly used as a medical tool for military services.

As the war ended, GE X-Ray Corporation continued to grow. Greater production capacity and greater expertise was needed in the core business of building X-ray tubes. Since the tubes were made from hand-blown glass, the decision was made to move the company 90 miles north to Milwaukee, Wisconsin, in order to tap into the enormous amount of glass-blowing talent in Milwaukee's beer-brewing industry.

In 1947, the company moved from Jackson Blvd. in Chicago to a Template:Convert site in the city of West Milwaukee, which had been used for building turbochargers during the war. The street was renamed Electric Avenue.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

In 1951, the corporate structure was dissolved and the name changed to General Electric X-Ray Department. This new name lasted less than 10 years as the department divested itself of its industrial X-ray business, widened its medical business, and took on the name of GE Medical Systems Department. One of the reasons for the name of Medical Systems was due to the increase in the electro-medical business, which began in 1961 with the introduction of patient monitoring equipment. By 1967 modular equipment was developed which was soon popular in cardiac and intensive care units.

Early in 1960, pacemakers were developed in Corporate Research & Development in Schenectady, New York, and in 1969 the Standby Pacemaker was developed. In 1968, the Biomedical Business Section opened its first factory in Edgerton Avenue. Late in 1970 a surgical package was introduced and in 1971, equipment to monitor blood gasses during surgery was introduced.

Later in 1971, Biomedical opened a 9,000 square meter admin and engineering building opposite its factory and in 1972, the section was renamed The cardio-Surgical Product Section. With the growth of its medical business, the General Electric Company upgraded the department to The Medical Systems Division in 1971. Also in 1971, a major expansion programme was started and the Waukesha factory was planned. Work started in July 1972, and was completed in 1973.

In the 1970s, CT scanners were introduced, followed by MRI machines in the 1980s, and GE became a major manufacturer of both.<ref name=":3" />Template:Reference page The department, named GE Medical Systems (GEMS), grew rapidly under the management of Jack Welch, establishing international partnerships and acquisitions.<ref name=":3" />Template:Reference page It expanded to sell globally, including various partnerships and acquisitions, growing to 50% sales outside the USA by 1988.<ref name=":3" />Template:Reference page

Growth in the 1980s as GE Medical Systems

In 1982, the company set up a joint venture with Yokogawa Electric. It changed its name to GE HealthCare Japan Corporation in 2009.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

In 1983, GE Medical started investing heavily in Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) technology, investing nearly US$1 billion in a new plant in Waukesha. It developed the MR Signa, which became very successful. Up to this time, the medical Systems Division had simply been divided into domestic and international, but in 1987 it reorganized into the three "poles" of America, Europe and Pacific.

In 1985 GE acquired Technicare from Johnson and Johnson. Originally named Ohio Nuclear (and in 1979, after another fusion, Ohio Nuclear Unirad), the name was changed to Technicare in 1982. Technicare (with headquarters in Cleveland, Ohio) had been producing a range of rotate-stationary CTs with an installed base in the thousands, as well as some X-ray diagnostic equipment and a nascent MRI product range.

In 1988, GE Medical Europe merged with CGR, a medical equipment supplier based in France, to form General Electric CGR Medical Systems. The European headquarters were moved from Hammersmith (UK) to Buc, Yvelines, near Paris.

Expanding in the 1990s as GE Medical Systems

In 1920, Victor was acquired by General Electric and was renamed VICTOR X-RAY CORPORATION.<ref name="made" /><ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> At that time, it was the largest manufacturer of X-ray tubes.Template:Citation needed

The merger of the Victor subsidiary and General Electric closed on July 28, 1926 and the company became "General Electric X-Ray Corporation".<ref name="made" /> The merger brought renewed vitality to the organization and Victor entered the foreign market with equipment sold and serviced in nearly 70 countries. In 1930, the Victor name was phased-out from all branding; however, advertisements did mention "formerly Victor X-Ray Corporation".<ref name="made" />

In 1974, work on CT was started and the first CT machine was installed in 1976. In June 1980, the company acquired the CT scanner business of EMI.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>

GE Signa series MRI Scanner, used at Narayana Multispeciality Hospital, Jaipur

GE Signa series MRI Scanner, used at Narayana Multispeciality Hospital, Jaipur

The MRI magnet plant in Florence, South Carolina, was opened a short time later, giving GE its own magnet production. It underwent a $40 million expansion in 2017.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

GE HealthCare was incorporated in 1994.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

In 1992, GE acquired the Picker Service organization in the U.K.

In 1994, it changed the name in Europe from GE-CGR back to General Electric Medical Systems.

In September 1995, the company acquired Resonex, an MRI maker based in Fremont, California.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

In 1996, Jeff Immelt was named CEO of the company; he became CEO of GE in 2000.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

In April 1998, the company acquired Diasonics Vingmed from Elbit Medical Imaging of Haifa, Israel, expanding its ultrasound imaging business.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

In September 1998, the company acquired Marquette Medical Systems for $808 million.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

In November 1998, the company acquired the Nuclear and MR businesses of Elscint, (then a division of Elron, based in Haifa, Israel), for $100 million.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

21st century and renaming to GE HealthCare

2000–2005

In September 2000, the company acquired the remaining 50% of the ELGEMS joint-venture formed with Elscint in 1997.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

In 2001, the company acquired San Francisco, California–based CT maker Imatron for $210 million. Imatron produced an Electron beam tomography (EBT) scanner that performs imaging applications used by physicians specializing in cardiology, pulmonology and gastroenterology. The Imatron business was later incorporated into GE HealthCare's Diagnostic Imaging business segment.

In March 2002, the company acquired MedicaLogic, creator of the former Logician, an ambulatory Electronic Medical Records system, for approximately $32 million.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

In April 2002, GE HealthCare acquired Visualization Technology, a manufacturer of intra-operative medical devices and related products for use in minimally invasive image guided surgery, based in Boston.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

In January 2003, the company acquired Millbrook Corporation, maker of Millbrook Practice Manager, a billing and scheduling system for doctors' offices.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

GE HealthCare IT later merged the two products into one, although the stand-alone EMR product is still available and in development.

In 2003, GE HealthCare acquired Instrumentarium, including its Datex-Ohmeda division, a producer, manufacturer, and supplier of anesthesia machines and mechanical ventilators. To satisfy regulatory concerns in the United States and in Europe, GE HealthCare was forced to divest Instrumentarium's Ziehm Imaging mobile C-arm business, as well as its Spacelabs patient-monitoring unit.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

File:GE Healthcare Amersham radiopharmaceuticals packaging.jpg

Packaging radioactive pharmaceuticals at GE Healthcare's facility in Amersham, England

In April 2004, the company acquired Amersham plc.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Also in 2004, GE HealthCare along with other healthcare companies built a research reactor for neutron and unit cell research at GE's European Research Center near Garching (outside of Munich), Germany. It is the only such reactor currently in operation.

2006–2014

In 2006, Sir William Castell resigned as CEO to become Chairman of the Wellcome Trust, a charity that fosters and promotes human and animal research—in the United Kingdom. Former GE Medical Systems CEO Joe Hogan then became CEO.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

In January 2006, the company acquired IDX Systems Corporation for $1.2 billion. IDX was folded into GE HealthCare Integrated IT Solutions, which specializes in clinical information systems and healthcare revenue management.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

January 2007, The U.S. Food and Drug Administration stopped GE OEC the Salt Lake-based design and manufacturing plant from selling their surgical imaging systems stating that the OEC systems could put patients at risk.[27]

In February 2008, GE HealthCare acquired Whatman plc, a global supplier of filtration products and technologies for £363 million.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

In July 2008, Joseph Hogan announced his intent to leave his post as CEO of GE HealthCare to take the role of CEO at ABB. John Dineen, head of GE's Transportation division since 2005, was named CEO.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

In March 2010, the company acquired MedPlexus.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> The company then offered its first electronic medical record product in a software-as-a-service platform.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

In April 2010, the company announced it was investing €3 million in the Technology Research for Independent Living Centre. The Irish centre seeks to enhance independence for elderly people through technological innovation.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

2015–2020

In July 2015, GE HealthCare partnered with the 2015 CrossFit Games to provide athletes with mobile imaging equipment.<ref>Template:Cite press release</ref>

The following year in January 2016, the company announced the move of its global headquarters to Chicago.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

In June 2017, Kieran Murphy was named CEO of the company, and former CEO John L. Flannery was named CEO of GE.<ref>Template:Cite press release</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

In April 2018, GE HealthCare sold several healthcare information technology assets to Veritas Capital for $1.05 billion.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

In June 2018, GE first announced plans to spin off GE HealthCare.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> However, the plan was delayed after GE sold its biopharma business to Danaher Corporation for $21.4 billion.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

2021–2025

In January 2021, the company acquired Prismatic Sensors AB, focused on Deep Silicon detector technology.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite press release</ref> A few months later in May 2021, the company acquired Zionexa, a company focused on biomarkers for the detection of breast cancer.<ref>Template:Cite press release</ref>

In July 2021, the company integrated technology from Spectronic Medical to create artificial intelligence-based software.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

In November 2021, General Electric announced it would split into three publicly traded companies, with GE HealthCare being one of the three.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> The spin-off of GE HealthCare was completed on January 4, 2023.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Prior to the spin-off, the company acquired BK Medical from Altaris Capital Partners for $1.45 billion.<ref>Template:Cite press release</ref>

Following its separation, GE HealthCare continued to expand. In February 2023, the company acquired Caption Health, an artificial intelligence medical technology manufacturer headquartered in San Mateo, California, for $150 million.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

In July 2024, the company acquired the clinical artificial intelligence business from Intelligent Ultrasound for $51 million.<ref>Template:Cite press release</ref>

Business overview

For 2024, the company reported nearly $20 billion in total revenue split between about $13 billion in products and about $6.6 billion in services, growing by 2% from the prior year.<ref name=":0">Template:Cite web</ref>

As of 2025, the company reports its revenue broken down into four segments in accordance with the segment reporting accounting requirements (ASU 2023-07):

1. Imaging, which accounted for about $2.4 billion in 2024Q4<ref name=":0" />
2. Advanced Visualization Solutions, with $1.4 billion in 2024Q4
3. Patient Care Solutions, with $827 million in 2024Q4
4. Pharmaceutical Diagnostics with $646 million 2024Q4

Major competitors include Fujifilm, Siemens Healthineers, and other companies in the medical imaging industry.

Imaging

The imaging business was the original core starting with x-rays in 1920, CT scanners in the 1970s, and MRI machines in the 1980s.<ref name=":3" />Template:Reference page

As of 2024, it includes the original imaging businesses along with continued innovations, such as the digital Omni Legend PET/CT scanner introduced in 2022.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

GE uses a custom scientific Linux distribution HELiOS (Healthcare Enterprise Linux Operating System) on their machines.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> They partnered with SUSE in 2020.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Facilities

The company's headquarters are in Chicago on the 16th floor of the Heller International Building. In 2019, it consolidated hundreds of employees, particularly in technology from Barrington, Illinois to its Chicago HQ.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> In 2020, it relocated salespeople to the headquarters from Wisconsin or regional sales offices countrywide.<ref name=":2">Template:Cite web</ref>

The company has a major presence in Waukesha, Wisconsin, where as of 2023 over half of its 5200 Wisconsin employees were located.<ref name=":1">Template:Cite web</ref> The company collaborates with researchers at University of Wisconsin-Madison which is less than 80 miles away.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Manufacturing factories

As of 2024, around two-thirds of CT scanners are produced in China, particularly in the Beijing Economic-Technological Development Area where GE launched its first joint venture, GE Hangwei Medical Systems, Co., Ltd., in China in 1991.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> GE also has a manufacturing facility in India, which launched in 2022.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

As of 2023, the company has a manufacturing plant in 4855 W. Electric Ave., West Milwaukee which produces imaging tubes and detectors.<ref name=":1" /> It announced plans to expand the plant in 2020 to produce more components for PET and CT scanners.<ref name=":2" /> The company began its presence in the region in 1947 during a post-World War II shift by GE X-Ray.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

The company has a plant in North Aurora, Illinois; in 2025, workers there voted to join the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAM), which also represents workers in Warrensville Heights, Ohio and Wisconsin.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

In 2009, a new 230k square foot plant in Troy, New York was completed for manufacturing digital mammography x-ray machines,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> incorporating digital flat panel X-ray technology using research conducted in Niskayuna, New York.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Criticism

Gadolinium-based contrast agents

In 1994, GE HealthCare ignored advice of its safety experts to proactively restrict the use of its MRI contrast agent, Omniscan.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> It also tried to conceal evidence of its risks by allegedly telling a researcher to "burn the data", as revealed during a trial opposing debilitated consumers, due to its accumulation in multiple organisms. This allegation was denied by GE HealthCare.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

In 2009, GE HealthCare sued for defamation a radiologist at the University of Copenhagen Hospital who linked the uses of Omniscan to gadolinium induced fibrosis after 20 of his patients (from which 1 died) suffered from it after its administration.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

In 2017, GE HealthCare opposed the European Medicines Agency (EMA) suspending the use of Omniscan (along other linear agents), despite evidence of the high cytotoxicity of gadodiamide<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> and its likelihood to dissociate after deposition. GE HealthCare said at the time it believed the overall benefit-risk profile of linear agents including Omniscan was positive and should remain as an option for radiologists.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

In a 2020 study, four commercially available gadolinium-based MRI contrast agents were tested: gadoteridol (ProHance), gadoterate (Dotarem, Clariscan) and gadobutrol (Gadovist). Of the four, gadoteridol demonstrated the lowest levels of retained gadolinium in the brain and soft body tissues of the rats used for the study. None of the tested agents had any impact on kidney histology.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref><ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> However, a separate 2022 study where rats were administered 80 human equivalent doses of various gadolinium-based contrast agents demonstrated that gadoterate had the lowest levels of gadolinium detected in specific areas of the brain and kidneys. Additionally, behavioral studies have been shown that there are no effects on any neurological parameters.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>

Low taxes paid in the United Kingdom

According to a report in The Independent in January 2016, the company received more money back in tax benefits (£1.6 million) in the UK in the previous 12 years than it paid. Its UK operations are all ultimately owned by a holding company in the Netherlands. Tax paid was £250,000, 1.7% of its £14.3 million profit. The company employs 22,000 people in the UK.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Overbilling the government

In 2011, the company agreed to pay $30 million to settle allegations that a company it acquired in 2004, Amersham Health, violated the False Claims Act of 1863 by knowingly providing false or misleading information to Medicare, causing the government to reimburse Myoview at artificially inflated rates. By maximizing the number of times a vial of the solution was used, health care providers billed Medicare multiple times for the product. A whistleblower received $5.1 million in the settlement.<ref name=":4">Template:Cite press release</ref><ref name=":5">Template:Cite news</ref> GE admitted no wrongdoing in the settlement, noting that the allegations pertain to over a year before it acquired Nycomed Amersham.<ref name=":4" /><ref name=":5" />

Reliability of imaging system

The company supplies a cloud-based imaging system to the East Midlands Radiology Consortium, which was described in October 2017 as breaking down, so that medical images had to be sent between hospitals by taxi.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

External links

• Template:Official website