Former GE chairman and CEO Jeffrey Immelt has joined the board of directors of Radiology Partners.

Immelt, who retired from GE in October after heading it for 16 years, will work with seven other members to oversee the affairs of the California-based physician-led and physician-owned radiology practice, providing his experience as a business and health care leader, as well as insight on how to further develop and improve technology and physician skills and practices.

“We believe that in order for us to reach our full potential, we have to grow distinctively in developing, attracting, maintaining and creating the best physician leaders,” Rich Whitney, CEO of Radiology Partners, told HCB News. “There are not a lot of organizations, unfortunately, in our health care system that have done much in this area. For us, that’s a critical linchpin. We’re a physician-led practice. Physicians typically don’t get a lot of formal leadership training, so it’s an area where we’re investing heavily in leadership academies and programs for our physicians. Jeff spent many years within GE and leading GE globally. There are very few organizations in the same realm in terms of the investments they make and in the deliberate nature of all their leadership development programs. It’s really great to have that kind of context and perspective on our board.”

Immelt ascended to the role of CEO after serving as president and CEO of GE Medical Systems, now known as GE Healthcare, where his work helped transform the company into a $20 billion leader in imaging and information technology.

As head of the complete enterprise, Immelt oversaw the work of more than 300,000 employees spread across 170 countries, and led efforts to invest in radiology and physician leadership.

Much of his focus involved advancing technology and digitizing health care and a variety of other industries, a trait that RP hopes will assist it in maximizing the full potential of new technologies.

“As we look forward to the next decade, with the coming advent of machine technologies like machine learning and artificial intelligence, we are navigating how to take advantage of those emerging technologies to add more services, to significantly advance the quality and the value of the services that we offer,” said Whitney. “At the same time, we hope to position ourselves maximally from a strategic standpoint as those technologies will likely be very disruptive to the health care system overall and certainly, by the nature of our work, radiology is one of those areas where technology is likely to be used earlier than in other places.”

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