Caption Health CEO Steve Cashman talks GE Healthcare acquisition

The company uses artificial intelligence to help guide healthcare professionals through ultrasounds

On Thursday, it was announced that Caption Health, a company using AI to the expand accessibility of ultrasound exams to include more healthcare professionals, not just those specially trained to handle the device, while also delivering faster results to the patient, was acquired by GE Healtcare.

While no financial terms of the deal were disclosed, GE Healthcare did say it would finance the acquisition with cash on hand. 

Caption's platform, called Caption Care, deploys AI that acts like a guidance system, telling healthcare professionals where to drive the ultrasound probe. It also understands the image of what it’s seeing, while also auto capturing it, meaning it takes over areas where a lot of errors are made thanks to the image being missed or not being good quality.

Steve Cashman, the company's CEO, answered some of our questions about what Caption brings to GE, how this will help expand the company's reach, and how the two companies can help catch heart disease early on. 

VatorNews: How did the deal with GE Healthcare come about? How did they first become aware of Caption?

Steve Cashman:  One of the things that attracted GE HealthCare to Caption Health is our strong team.  A primary aim with this transaction is to add strategic AI capabilities and accelerate growth.

VN: Why are you a good fit for them? What are you giving them that they didn't have before?

SC: This acquisition helps GE HealthCare meet a key strategic focus, particularly as image guidance is of growing importance in diagnostic ultrasound, helping to prevent hospitalizations and support improved clinical outcomes.

VN: How will GE be integrating your technology into their platform? What will that look like from the point of view of their customers?

SC: The acquisition supports GE HealthCare’s $3 billion Ultrasound business by adding AI-enabled image guidance to its ultrasound device portfolios. It helps enable affordable, convenient access to point-of-care ultrasound imaging for a variety of clinical uses. The acquisition aligns with the GE HealthCare strategy to deliver precision care and expands access to new ultrasound users and clinical uses.

VN: What will be different for Caption going forward? Will you continue to operate as a standalone company?

SC: Following deal closure, the GE HealthCare and Caption Health teams will collaborate closely to integrate Caption AI into relevant GE HealthCare ultrasound products, with the initial focus being on the Point of Care and Handheld portfolio.  Caption Health will continue to provide management and administrative services to affiliated medical services providers, collectively referred to as “Caption Care”.

VN: How will becoming part of GE Healthcare expand Caption's reach? How many additional healthcare professionals and patients will now have access to your technology?

SC: The AI-enabled guidance capabilities that the Caption team has developed are industry-leading, and GE HealthCare’s objective is to support Caption’s work so that it can further enable the growth of GE HealthCare’s ultrasound business. There is a broad opportunity to use AI-guided ultrasound to unlock early disease detection and the union of our companies will accelerate the adoption of these life-changing technologies, globally.

VN: Where do you see Caption going next now that it is part of GE Healthcare? Does this in any way change your vision for what you want to accomplish?

SC: GE HealthCare intends to support the core activities underway at Caption Health including the commercialization of our Caption Care services and the continued development of our product for new clinical uses.

VN: Is there anything else I should know?

SC: Heart failure is often called the “silent killer” by doctors, as it is easy to ignore symptoms until it is too late. What if patients could get a quick cardiac checkup in their general practitioner’s office or even at home, and catch small problems before they grow into much bigger, less manageable ones? This future is not far off with the combination of AI-driven software from Caption Health that helps guide cardiac ultrasound exams, together with the incredible ultrasound equipment from GE HealthCare.

VatorNews previously spoke to Cashman about Caption Health on our podcast, which you can listen to below: