GE and Intel on Thursday launched a partnership in which the companies pledged to spend $250 million over the next five years to develop and market products for the health care industry, particularly home-based technology for monitoring and diagnosing people with chronic illnesses.

The companies unveiled their plans at a New York news conference. GE has been a major provider of medical information systems and imaging and diagnostic equipment used by hospitals for years. Intel has been quickly integrating its technology into health care devices and systems for the home.

In coming together, the companies are going after what they believe to be an emerging multibillion-dollar market, driven by the aging of the baby boom generation and the high cost of hospital care.

Allowing patients to stay home while hospitals monitor their condition and diagnose and treat problems remotely is expected to cut health care costs, which Intel and GE said support their efforts.

Intel chief executive "Paul [Otellini] and I wouldn't do anything that we didn't think would be a multibillion-dollar business over time," Jeff Immelt, chairman and chief executive of GE, told reporters during the joint news conference.