General Electric Co. met the objectives it set for the first year of its so- called healthymagination initiative, including spending $700 million on research and development as part of its plan to develop more efficient, lower-cost health-care treatments. GE, the world's biggest maker of medical-imaging equipment and health-care information-technology systems, will spend $6 billion by 2015 on products, financing and partnerships. Since announcing the plan a year ago, the company has started a $250 million equity fund targeting life-science and technology and introduced 24 new products, GE said in a statement. 'In terms of cost, quality and access, we're really on track,' Mike Barber, the executive who oversees the program, said in an interview. The six-year program, announced by Chief Executive Officer Jeffrey Immelt in May 2009, aims to spend $3 billion on research, honing its efforts toward products that cut procedure costs and detect diseases earlier; $1 billion on partnerships; and $2 billion through its finance unit, GE Capital. It also seeks to lower GE's expenses via a company-wide health program. New products have included the VScan, a hand-held ultrasound device, while the life-sciences and technology fund announced a $5 million investment last week in CardioDX Inc., a maker of non-invasive genomic tests. Partnerships include a home health-care venture with Intel Corp. As a next step, GE is leading an effort with the five largest employers in the Cincinnati area, home to the company's aviation unit, to pool resources in an effort to stem rising health-care costs. Immelt, 54, who has mentioned the fledgling effort in speeches this year, grew up in the area, which also has one of the biggest populations of GE employees and retirees in the U.S. 'We're talking with five of the largest employers in the Cincinnati area and we've gotten a positive response,' Barber said. 