Microsoft and GE Healthcare’s Caradigm Gets Regulatory Approval

The 50-50 combination company of the Redmond, Wash.-based Microsoft and the Barrington, Ill.-based GE Healthcare, Caradigm, has received regulatory approvals. This officially completes the joint venture, according to the two companies. The venture will aim to enable health systems and professionals to use real-time, organization-wide intelligence to improve healthcare quality and the patient experience.

According to a joint press release from GE Healthcare and Microsoft, Caradigm will develop and market an open healthcare intelligence platform and collaborative clinical applications focused on enabling better population health management to improve outcomes and the economics of health and wellness. Plans for the joint venture were first announced on Dec. 7, 2011, and the final agreement was completed on June 1, 2012.

The venture’s board of directors and leadership team will be composed of executives from both Microsoft and GE Healthcare. It will be led by CEO Michael Simpson, who joins the company from GE Healthcare. Lauren Salata has been named chief financial officer (CFO) and Michael Willingham as quality assurance and regulatory affairs executive. Salata previously served as the CFO and compliance officer of Care Innovations, an Intel and GE company based in Roseville, Calif. Willingham joins Caradigm from Philips Healthcare in Bothell, Wash.

"The combination of people and technology from GE Healthcare and Microsoft will allow us to drive the dramatic change that is needed in healthcare," Simpson said in a statement. "By forming Caradigm, we can offer innovative healthcare solutions, including an open platform and tools that enable software developers around the world to address the complexities of population health today."

Caradigm will be located at City Center Bellevue in Bellevue, Wash.