GE Health Care Procures API Health Care

By CIOReview | Wednesday, February 19, 2014

FREMONT, CA: GE Healthcare, which is a division of General Electric is expanding its services in Hospital Operations Management and has made an acquisition of API Healthcare, a health care work force management software and analytics solutions provider based in Hartford.

“API Healthcare is likely to expand GE Healthcare’s hospital operations management portfolio which GE said gives hospitals real-time access to operational data but the terms of the transaction have not been revealed,” says Rich Kirchin a senior reporter in health care.

API Healthcare’s solutions are used by more than 1,600 hospitals and staffing agencies in the U.S. It is beneficial in several sectors of hospital management like staffing and scheduling, patient classification, human resources, talent management, payroll and time and attendance.

“The business headquarters for API Healthcare will remain in its current location in Hartford, Also remaining in their current locations are API satellite offices in Texas and California, “says GE Healthcare spokesman Ben Fox.

In order to improve care delivery and manage cost, it is important for health care providers to remain connected to the industrial Internet to track data on availability of beds and condition of patients, for which GE software system is primarily used. The industrial Internet is a digital network that links people with data, machines and software. GE executives said the API products will complement GE’s AgileTrac system that tracks both assets and patient flow in hospitals.

“Labor costs represent over 50 percent of hospital operating budgets, with this acquisition, we are now able to address a significant portion of hospital operating costs—from assets to patient and labor—with a mix of software, real-time data, powerful analytics and professional services,” said Michael Swinford, President and CEO of GE Healthcare Services.