GE buying health IT market share

Under the plan, which it dubbed Stimulus Simplicity, the money will go to medical offices, clinics and hospitals to buy its GE Simplicity Centricity EMR software. The loans are designed as a bridge loan between purchase of the gear and money flowing from the Obama stimulus.

This follows IBM's own bridge financing program, announced in April, valued at $2 billion. That money is tied to purchases of IBM services.

Big companies need to tie hospitals and clinics to their big iron projects quickly or many could move to software as a service plans with little upfront expense, given that NCHIT David Blumenthal has indicated such plans will be eligible for stimulus payments.