GE HealthCare is leaning heavily into artificial intelligence, focusing on launching more AI-enabled medical devices and pursuing strategic acquisitions to advance its partnerships with health systems.
The company added 27 Food and Drug Administration-approved AI-enabled medical devices to its portfolio since the end of 2023, a number that CEO Peter Arduini said was one of the highest in healthcare.
Related: GE HealthCare outlines big plans for AI-enabled devices
It upgraded about 30% of its MRI scanners with a deep-learning algorithm called AIR Recon DL that allows radiologists to capture sharper images more quickly. It also expanded its other deep-learning algorithm, Sonic DL, beyond cardiac MRI to include brain and orthopedic applications.
Last year, the company closed two acquisitions in the space. It purchased imaging analytics and digital workflow solution company MIM Software in April for an undisclosed amount and Intelligent Ultrasound’s clinical AI business for $51 million in October.
During the company's fourth-quarter earnings call Thursday, Arduini said the company has no plans to slow down. During the past two years, GE HealthCare has entered multiple partnerships with health systems worth billions of dollars, and he said acquisitions will play an important role in keeping that going.
Customers like Sutter Health, which signed a seven-year, $1 billion partnership with the company last month, want to understand how everything works together as a whole, instead of just solving individual problems, Arduini said.
“M&A will play an important part of that, and we're optimistic here in 2025, and honestly into 2026, with a strong balance sheet [and] the cash flow generation that we have, that M&A can be a more healthy participation into our play,” he said.
GE HealthCare reported fourth-quarter net earnings of $737 million, or $1.57 per share, compared with $416 million, or 88 cents per share, in the year-ago quarter. Full-year net earnings totaled about $2.1 billion, or $4.34 per share, compared with $1.6 billion, or $3.04 per share, in 2023.
