whats the strategy of GE healthcare in europe?
491192
http://ge.com/en/product/business/healthcare.htm
197317
Well, according to The Wall Street Journal Eastern Edition, March 17, 2006, St. Paul Travelers Cos. is in negotiations to acquire Zurich Financial Services.\n\nHere is the article:\n-------------------------------------------------\n\n"The insurance industry has seen many big European insurers buy U.S. companies in recent years. Now there are hints that a U.S. company could make a big move in the other direction.\n\nSt. Paul Travelers Cos., of St. Paul, Minn., is discussing the possibility of a merger with Zurich Financial Services of Switzerland, one of Europe's largest insurers and a bigger company in terms of market capitalization, according to people familiar with the matter. The effort is preliminary and may go nowhere, these people said. A potential deal faces several significant hurdles, and even if successful could take months to complete, they cautioned.\n\nStill, the talks, however preliminary, are the latest sign of ferment in insurance. The industry has been slowly consolidating around the globe in recent years as insurers aim to follow in the footsteps of banks by transforming themselves from regional or national fixtures into global players.\n\nAmong recent big deals in the industry, Swiss Re in November acquired General Electric Co.'s insurance business for $6.8 billion, while this month Old Mutual PLC of South Africa closed a deal to acquire Skandia AB of Sweden, also for $6.8 billion.\n\nSo far, European companies, some of which have substantial operations in the U.S., have played a central role in global consolidation. But U.S. companies increasingly are turning their attention to growth opportunities overseas, particularly given that the U.S. is in many ways a mature market for the products insurers here specialize in. Besides the Swiss Re acquisition, recent deals include the 2004 acquisition by AXA Financial Inc., a unit of French insurer AXA SA, of U.S. insurer MONY Group Inc. in a deal valued at $1.5 billion.\n\nCombined, St. Paul and Zurich Financial could create a rival in size to American International Group Inc., the only U.S. insurer with big international operations. A purchase by St. Paul would be one of the largest European acquisitions ever by a U.S. company. Zurich Financial has a $33.6 billion stock-market value, compared with a stock-market value of $29.9 billion for St. Paul Travelers. Together, the companies racked up more than $90 billion in revenue last year and employed more than 85,000.\n\nPulling off such a deal would be a coup for St. Paul's ambitious chief executive, Jay Fishman, a former top Citigroup executive and protege of Sanford I. Weill, the executive who helped create Citigroup through the merger of insurance giant Travelers Group and Citicorp in 1998. In 2004, Mr. Fishman helped arrange the deal that brought Travelers to St. Paul after it had been spun out of Citigroup.\n\nZurich Financial has businesses in 50 countries and already ranks as one of the top U.S. property and casualty insurers, for both businesses and individuals. St. Paul Travelers operates primarily in the U.S.\n\nA Zurich spokesman declined to comment. A spokesman from St. Paul Travelers said the company "doesn't discuss speculation."\n\nFor both companies, a trans-Atlantic insurance merger could help spread risks more evenly around the globe, industry experts said. In addition, the large overlap in the U.S. businesses of the two companies provides a potential opening for considerable cost-cutting.\n\nNeither company has an especially strong stock price at play in the preliminary talks. Though Zurich Financial's stock has climbed strongly this year, it had long lagged behind its peers as the company struggled to emerge from the aggressive expansion strategy of former chief executive Rolf Hueppi. Current management has written down many of Mr. Hueppi's acquisitions in an attempt to wipe the slate clean.\n\nSt. Paul's share price, meanwhile, trades at a little less th
583758
west europe ....\n\ngood luck
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By letting more Latin-Americans across the boarder.  \n\nBut in all truth there are some special protections that Western European Countries negotiated when joining the EU.  One of these includes excluding workers from certain eastern countries from working in Western countries for a given number of years.  \n\nAlso, many western European countries have huge low paid labor forces.  France for example has 10% unemployment rates and 40% of their population works for minimum wage.    That could be why there are factories all over France, and I am desperate to find factories in America.\n\nMany people in America cry about China being the next big threat, but the real competition is back in Europe.  The 25 member states of the EU already have a higher GDP then the US.  Not only that, but they also have a way nicer life style.\n\nHow are they able to do it?  They don't spend exorbitant quantities of money on their military.
461733
If you are in the states, you should call your health care service and find out.  Even with Blue Cross, there are tiers of service depending on your contract (or your employer's contract).  You need to find out from them directly.  Good luck!
238536
I'll give you an answer based on my logic, as a pharmacist. Belgium is under the EU law and contraceptives are classified as POM. So, you shouldn't be able, at the moment that e-commerce in medicines is not valid in the Union.\nI am curious if there is a way. When I was studying abroad I could make use of a specific certificate that we can take before living our countries from the insurance case where I was registered and have access to health services. This is valid for all European citizens. I wonder if in Europe Direct, the free service of the EU can give you information on that.Do you want to try if you don't take more valid information here?\nAnother solution is to go in a local pharmacy and ask them directly.\n\nKaterina
851524
this is what i use http://www.altiushealthplans.com/\n Altius
925335
Europe & North America \n\nyou can check the link belwo
961662
The main company is in Italy, Ferrero.  It has operations worldwide.\n\nhttp://www.answers.com/topic/ferrero-spa
844611
universal health care means everyone in a country has health insurance (I believe this is the system in Germany). Socialized medicine is where the government owns and runs all the hospitals and pays all the Doctors
410071
I DONT KNWO WHY U R U ASKING DIS QUESTION HERE...ITS AS EASY AS CALLLING THE CLINICAL GOVERNANCE DEPARTMENT OR HUMAN RESOURCE.. THEY WILL BE HAPPY TO ANSWER U... CHEERS
972597
Have a look on the NHS.gov website.  They're very good at plucking targets and stuff out of thin air without consulting the medics at the coal face!!  When I snuff it, I'm coming back to sort out the NHS as my biggest strength I am told is bringing order out of chaos!!
515930
call information for that country, town and hospital
717906
Edison is my electric company, and they offer discount programs for low income, elderly or medical equipment usage. I am sure SDG&E has similar programs. \n\nIf there are similar programs, you will probably have to fill out an application, which is available for download on their Web site.
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I am opposed.\n\nWhen socialized medicine is enacted a single huge infusion of money is provided.  Then all growth stops.  When the profit incentive is removed how many people will be doing research on newer and better diagnostic tools and procedures.  Okay, that would be the government and we all know how efficient the government is.  \n\nIf you want to do some research, check out the number of MRI machines, or CT scans, or any other sophisticated diagnostic tool per person in England or Canada or any other country with socialized medicine.  \n\nMy uncle had open heart surgery 5 days after his doctor said he needed it.  A co-worker was under the knife in 4 days and a former boss had his surgery 3 days after the decision was made.  All three of these men were very ill and wouldn't have lasted long untreated.  I have read where 2 and 3 year waits are not uncommon in Canada.  Haven't heard how well England does getting things done.\n\nTo be fair I worked with a German for many years and we discussed the issue on several occasions.  He said that under the German system everyone had an annual physical.  I would never say that is "a bad thing".  On the contrary it would almost certainly make for a healthier populace.\n\nStill, with all things being equal, I'll stay with my current system.\n\nI heard someone say that if you think health care is expensive now, wait until it's free.
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GE uses it. They can afford to use anything they want. It is the best.
99866
Healthcare IT Demand in Germany Poised for Growth, Says Frost \n \n \nFrost & Sullivan - February 3, 2006\n \nExpenditure on healthcare IT in Germany represents a paltry 0.5 per cent of total healthcare outlays -- an extremely low proportion when compared to other developed countries, says Frost. The ICT industry analysts predict a boost in demand for healthcare IT due to several factors, including the pursuit of a more integrated healthcare IT policy, government initiatives, and new reimbursement structures.\n   \n \n \nOnly 15-20 per cent of German hospitals currently follow an integrated healthcare IT strategy that embraces the hospital-based, in-patient sector and the ambulatory, out-patient sector. This low penetration rate has been attributed to a variety of reasons - the absence of coherent federal initiatives towards eHealth, the decentralised healthcare administration which has resulted in varying levels of IT development in the different Länder , restricted hospital IT budgets and the lack of an articulated enterprise-wide IT strategy. \n\nHowever, new integrated care approaches and disease management programmes are now aiming to integrate and co-ordinate ambulatory and hospital care. This is set to trigger increased demand for healthcare IT solutions, creating, in particular, strong growth potential for clinical systems in the outpatient arena. As a result, exciting investment opportunities are emerging in Germany’s healthcare IT sector.\n\nAfter 2005-2006, government initiatives and the launch of a new hospital billing system under the diagnosis-related groups (DRGs) is poised to accelerate market growth. Recent healthcare reform acts have prioritised healthcare IT with Federal initiatives encompassing electronic patient cards, healthcare professional cards, e-prescription and electronic patient records.\n\n"Whereas previously healthcare IT was initiated at Länder level, and often implemented in the form of pilot projects, a nation-wide approach is planned as stated in the Health Ministry’s master plan ’Information Technology Society Germany 2006," notes Siddharth Saha, Programme Manager of Healthcare IT at Frost & Sullivan.\n\nLegislation requiring the transmission of all patient and procedure data to the sickness funds for reimbursement purposes in electronic form and new reimbursement regulations introduced for in-patient treatment following the establishment of DRGs, has compelled hospitals to invest in the necessary IT systems to achieve regulatory conformity. \n\nIn addition to hospitals having to comply with regulatory requirements (DRGs, procedural coding etc), greater awareness of the role IT systems play in improving work-flows, controlling costs and increasing cost-efficiency are also set to expand the German healthcare IT market. \n\nThe total German healthcare IT market including clinical and administrative systems (hardware, software, services and maintenance contracts) targeting both hospital and ambulatory sectors has been estimated at Euro 1.2 billion in 2003. Segments with the highest potential include picture archiving and communications systems/radiology information systems (PACS/RIS), electronic medical records (EMR), decision support tools and data management systems. \n\nInitially, healthcare IT was dominated mainly by administrative systems that facilitated patient data administration and financial reporting/purchasing. However, even as the market for administrative systems has become increasingly saturated, the demand for clinical systems has been rising. In keeping with these trends, a steady annual growth rate of 5.7 per cent is estimated for administrative systems and 15-20 per cent for clinical systems up to 2006. This indicates expanding market opportunities for suppliers of clinical systems.\n\nFormidable barriers await competitors wishing to enter the increasingly attractive German healthcare IT market. Existing barriers include an already high level of competition,