February 9, 2023 – GE HealthCare announced that it has signed an agreement to acquire Caption Health, Inc., a privately owned artificial intelligence healthcare leader that creates clinical applications to aid in early disease detection, using AI to assist in conducting ultrasound scans. With Caption AI applications, ultrasound examinations can be easier and faster, enabling a broader set of healthcare professionals to conduct basic echocardiogram exams. This technology can help detect signs of diseases like heart failure in at-risk patients across doctors’ offices, the home, and alternate sites of care, potentially preventing hospitalizations and supporting improved clinical outcomes.
Heart ultrasound examinations are the primary tool used to help identify heart failure, the most common diagnosis in the U.S. for hospitalized patients over the age of 65. It contributes to millions of deaths globally every year, but early symptoms like fatigue or shortness of breath are commonly confused for normal signs of aging. A study showed that 38% of new heart failure patients are diagnosed in acute care facilities, even though 46% of these patients had potential symptoms six months before diagnosis, when intervention would have had a greater impact in slowing disease progression. Doctors call heart failure “the silent killer” because it is so easy to ignore symptoms until it is too late. It has remained a leading cause of death nationwide, with cases on the rise following the COVID pandemic.
As part of this acquisition, Caption Health will continue to provide management and administrative services to affiliated medical services providers (collectively referred to as “Caption Care”). By providing trained technicians across the country equipped with the Caption Health AI technology to perform cardiac ultrasounds in alternate sites of care and, in the future, in the comfort of patient’s homes, Caption Care service is intended to support early diagnosis and detection before diseases like heart failure become more difficult to treat.