GE HealthCare working with two major medical systems to advance AI tech for hospitals

Hospitals have long wrestled with the balancing act of caring for more patients, with fewer staff, and under tighter budgets. GE HealthCare is stepping up to that challenge. The company has teamed up with two powerhouse medical institutions — The Queen's Health Systems in Honolulu and Duke Health in North Carolina — to fine-tune an AI-driven hospital operations platform designed to make healthcare run more smoothly and intelligently. The new software, part of GE HealthCare's CareIntellect suite, aims to predict, recommend, and help care teams act faster, all in real time.

As Bree Bush, General Manager of Command Center at GE HealthCare, puts it: "We're continuously innovating and working hand in hand with customers to unlock new opportunities for improved outcomes."

How does it work?

The forthcoming platform builds on the success of GE HealthCare's existing Command Center, which is already used by nearly 500 hospitals across 55,000 beds worldwide. The new system will go further. It uses AI and predictive analytics to anticipate patient flow, resource bottlenecks, and staffing needs — and then suggests precise actions to keep everything running efficiently.

Running on GE HealthCare's CareIntellect cloud infrastructure, the software is designed for flexibility and security. Hospitals can easily deploy new applications without costly integrations, thanks to features like:

• Enterprise-grade security and single sign-on access
• Centralized billing and identity management
• Seamless updates and real-time analytics

Ashley Shearer, VP of Care Coordination and Patient Flow at The Queen's Medical Center, says her team has already seen "how data-driven insights are helping us better advance our mission to deliver the best care in the best possible way." Since adopting GE's technology, Queen's boosted patient transfers by over 22%, cut emergency department wait times by 41%, and saved an estimated $20 million in one year.

Why does it matter?

Hospitals are stretched thin. Costs are climbing — health system expenses rose 6% last year alone, including a 5% jump in staffing and 9% in supplies. On top of that, the U.S. faces a projected 10% nursing shortage by 2027. Against this backdrop, any tool that can lighten the load and improve patient flow is more than welcome — it's essential.

Kristie Barazsu of Duke Health says it best: "We've seen the impact that technology can have to enhance our overall operations, the care team experience, and the way we support our communities." When hospitals anticipate challenges before they happen, clinicians spend less time firefighting and more time doing what they're trained to do: care for patients.

The context

The healthcare sector is at an inflection point. Mounting complexity, staff burnout, and financial pressures have made traditional management methods unsustainable. Enter data-driven operations — systems that don't just react but predict. GE HealthCare's latest move signals a broader industry shift from hindsight to foresight, powered by AI.

The company's track record with Command Center shows what's possible when technology meets clinical insight. At Queen's, the combination led to tangible improvements in patient access and efficiency. Now, with Duke Health joining the effort, GE HealthCare is blending academic rigor with real-world practice to shape the next generation of hospital management tools.

As Bush notes, "By bringing in their frontline expertise, clinical knowledge, and operational expertise, we're accelerating innovation that helps hospitals operate more efficiently, support their staff, and ultimately deliver better care."

The message is clear: the future of healthcare isn't just about healing — it's about foresight, flow, and smarter systems that let hospitals breathe easier.