General Electric is trying to create a more integrated health system in the company’s main areas of operation. This includes Louisville, where GE expects to add 1,000 employees by 2014.“For us to continue to be competitive as a global company, as an American based company, we need to be able to tackle some of these [health] problems," said Alan Gilbert, global government and NGO strategy director of GE's Healthymagination.This week GE officials announced the company will try to start new programs in Louisville and Erie, Pennsylvania. The program began in Cincinnati in 2009. It pairs local businesses with local healthcare providers and insurers. The program received $40 million in grants that helped establish the partnership, said Gilbert. The idea, he said, is to provide good healthcare and to reduce costs.Since 2009, GE’s Cincinnati aviation employees have visited the ER 18 percent less and this makes a region more appealing to business, said Gilbert.“Some of the things that we see in Louisville we’ve seen in Cincinnati before. So I think we take those lessons and really try to work to really convene and enable the community broadly to try to tackle some of these issues the way other communities are doing it," he said.GE has not yet reached out to any local stakeholders, but talks have just started and Gilbert said companies like UPS are on his call list.