Intel Corp. and General Electric Co. have come together to form an alliance for developing and marketing home-based health technologies, designed to help seniors live independently and those with chronic conditions to manage their care from their own homes.

Fairfield, Connecticut based GE and Santa Clara based Intel also announced that they will invest around $250-million in research and product development, over the next five years, with the companies saying they will combine 'skill sets and extensive research resources to accelerate the innovation and commercialization of next-generation home health technologies'.

As well, the Intel Health Guide, a care management tool designed for health care professionals who manage patients with chronic conditions, will be sold and marketed by GE Healthcare, and both companies will expand their current home health and independent living technologies development programmes, to include fall prevention, medication compliance, sleep apnea, cardiovascular disease, diabetes and personal wellness monitoring.

A consortium of private and public sector organizations participating in a $5-million three-year home health research programme funded by the Hungarian government is led by GE Healthcare, while Intel with the Irish Development Agency has established a $30-million TRIL Centre (Technology Research for Independent Living), for researching independent living technologies.

With industry and academic experts working to create home healthcare products that allow doctors to remotely diagnose and monitor patients' conditions, without a visit to the doctors' office or a hospitals, this multi-billion-dollar market is growing rapidly as the world's population ages. Referred to as tele-health and home health monitoring, the $3-billion market North American and European market is projected to reach $7.7 -billion by 2012, as being able to monitor patients remotely can often be a lifesaver.