The West Wireless Health Institute announced a partnership today with GE Healthcare to jointly work on a variety of educational, technical and research initiatives related to wireless health. The WWHI noted that its technology and education partnerships are based on the mutual exchange of ideas, technical assistance and expertise -- but do not include the exchange of funds. Therefore, assumedly, the partnership included no financial deal.

The WWHI's co-founder Dr. Eric Topol has long been a fan of GE Healthcare's portable, handheld ultrasound device, Vscan. While Vscan currently has no wireless networking capability, Topol often pointed to the device, which is about the size of a large mobile phone, as the future for personal medical devices. Topol also gave the very first live demo of GE's Vscan on-stage during his keynote at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas earlier this year. (Revisit that here.)

While the Vscan received no mention in the WWHI-GE partnership press release, the WWHI did refer to GE as having demonstrated leadership in the emerging wireless health industry. In the past some of the wireless health-related GE we have covered includes GE's partnership with Intel for the Health Guide; GE's wireless sensor initiatives for premature infants; and GE's recently launched wellness smartphone app, Morsel.

"GE Healthcare is committed to being at the forefront of healthcare innovation by providing our customers and consumers around the world with products that enable the highest quality of care," Omar Ishrak, president and CEO of GE Healthcare stated in a press release. "Wireless health is quickly becoming a critical force supporting lower health care costs, improved patient access and better care. The West Wireless Health Institute is providing vital leadership in this rapidly growing field, and we look forward to working closely on projects that will enable the market to drive."

For more on the GE-WWHI partnership news, check out the press release