GE HealthCare to distribute FDA-cleared remote patient support

GE HealthCare today announced it will distribute Ionic Health’s nCommand Lite, now that the tech has secured FDA 510(k) clearance.

Ionic Health designed nCommand Lite to support remote patient scanning, image viewing/review and real-time guidance from remote experts during scanning procedures. It aims to address staffing shortages in radiology departments. GE Healthcare will exclusively distribute the technology.

GE HealthCare has multiple solutions that streamline workflows, increase efficiency and ease the burden of staff shortages, according to the company. It enhanced its remote operations portfolio with an FDA-cleared new version of Digital Expert Access and announced an exclusive distribution agreement with Ionic Health in November 2023.

“GE HealthCare is committed to continued investment in the rapidly growing space of remote operations through innovation and strategic collaborations that support the current and future needs of healthcare institutions. Our goal is to provide remote operations solutions that lead to increased access for patients, including patients who may require complex care and support from an off-site expert technologist,” Rekha Ranganathan, senior VP and general manager of imaging platforms and digital solutions at GE HealthCare, said in a news release. “Additionally, we recognize that healthcare systems are not only looking to leverage the skills of one expert across multiple physical locations for knowledge sharing and training but have an imaging fleet that includes multiple vendors and modalities, so it was critical for us to expand our remote operations portfolio by adding Ionic Health’s nCommand Lite technology.”

nCommand Lite has multi-modality capabilities for magnetic resonance (MR), computed tomography (CT) and positron emission tomography/CT (PET/CT) scanning. It allows for off-site experts to provide real-time guidance to technologists operating the scanner, allowing for collaboration and knowledge sharing across multiple physical locations. nCommand Lite is also optimized for low bandwidth consumption to ensure a seamless user experience in remote collaboration.

“We are thrilled that our nCommand Lite solution, built on the three-year-strong nCommand platform from Brazil, is now cleared for use in the U.S.,” said José Leovigildo Coelho, CEO and co-founder of Ionic Health. “Developed with multi-modality and multi-vendor functionalities and high-end technology to scale and tackle staffing shortages, nCommand Lite enables broader access to expert technologists. Through our continued collaboration with GE HealthCare, we hope to make the nCommand technology available to more regions across the globe in the future.”