By Catherine Estrampes, president and CEO, U.S. & Canada, GE HealthCare

Last October, I wrote that innovation in healthcare is not one-size-fits-all. Health systems are simultaneously navigating consolidation, workforce shortages, aging infrastructure, margin and reimbursement pressure, a need to increase access, and rapidly shifting patient expectations. In that environment, fragmented purchasing and incremental upgrades are no longer sufficient.

The future of healthcare transformation will be shaped by long-term enterprise partnerships, not transactions. At GE HealthCare, we call these collaborations Care Alliances in the U.S. This is not just a brand but a structural shift in how healthcare industry companies and health systems must work together — pushing forward from product-based conversations to enterprise alignment.

It begins with listening.

Start With Strategy, Not Technology

When my teams and I sit down with C-suites, department chairs, and clinical leaders across the U.S., we do not begin with a portfolio discussion. The most fruitful conversations start with questions such as “What are your long-term strategic priorities?” and “Where are your biggest constraints to access?”

Across markets, the answers are strikingly consistent. Leaders are balancing enterprise expansion with operational complexity. They are standardizing workflows across multi-site systems. They are modernizing aging fleets while managing financial discipline. They are advancing specialized service lines in oncology, theranostics, cardiology, and neurology. And they are preparing for a world where value-based care demands measurable outcomes, not volume.

Solving these challenges requires more than equipment replacement or more technology. There is intention to having the right technology in the right location for the right patient. It requires coordinated alignment of people, process, and technology across the enterprise.

• People: the integration of dedicated expert resources and advisory services working in collaboration with health system staff and clinicians
• Process: workflow optimization throughout the entire patient journey
• Technology: the adoption of innovative technology at scale to streamline workflows and enhance clinician and patient experiences across the health system.

By starting with a deep understanding of each customer’s environment, we lay the foundation for meaningful collaboration—one that’s built on shared goals and measurable outcomes. If you begin by selling, you will be perceived as a vendor. If you begin by understanding a system’s strategy, you earn the right to become a partner.

From Vendor Relationships to Structured Governance

Traditional medtech relationships were largely transactional: a device purchase, a service contract, a replacement cycle. Those remain important. But today’s environment demands more structure and more discipline.

Our strategic enterprise collaborations, called Care Alliances, are where we co-develop innovative, disruptive models with our customers that include holistic solutions across our portfolio to help solve some of their most complex challenges and accelerate long-term goals, driving operational excellence and performance. Each Care Alliance is a customized solution that can integrate technology, digital tools, service, and education with strategic advisory expertise, flexible financing, and end-to-end guidance from deal structuring through execution.

This customer-first approach allows us to co-create tailored solutions that align with shared key performance indicators and a structured governance model with quarterly meetings. Together, we define success, not just in terms of product delivery, but through impact-driven outcomes that help to elevate care, create long-term value, increase revenue, and improve operational efficiency.

By embedding strong joint-governance into every Care Alliance, this ensures alignment across departments, accountability for outcomes, and sustained progress toward strategic goals. By co-owning the integration process and regularly reviewing KPIs, we foster transparency, collaboration, and long-term success. In the governance meetings, we assess progress against KPIs, discuss what is and is not working, and pivot as needed based on changing customer priorities.

This governance structure supports the seamless integration of our innovations that are designed to complement each other, with AI embedded in devices, integrated across the patient journey, and scaled throughout the enterprise. Our D3 strategy—leveraging smart devices, digital tools, and disease-focused solutions—enables precision care tailored to individual patients while addressing systemic challenges like clinician burnout and patient backlogs.

Trust Before Transformation

The most enduring lesson I have learned is this: trust precedes transformation.

In any long-term collaboration, there will be moments of friction — operational challenges, shifting priorities, market pressures. What determines success is not perfection. It is openness, responsiveness, and shared accountability.

Enterprise partnerships are developed over time through listening, disciplined follow-through, and governance structures that reinforce mutual commitment. When both organizations align around patient access, operational excellence, and sustainable growth, transformation becomes achievable.

Healthcare leaders are navigating one of the most complex operating environments in decades. The question is no longer whether transformation is necessary. It is how to pursue it responsibly, predictably, and at scale.

This shift favors fewer, deeper partnerships built on alignment and accountability.

Not incremental upgrades.
Not fragmented transactions.
But disciplined, outcome-oriented alignment across the enterprise.

Enterprise partnerships such as Care Alliances offer a path forward as structured collaborations designed to align long-term strategy with measurable progress