Information Technology
GE Enters Health Data-Sharing Project
With Intermountain Healthcare, Others
DENVER—GE Healthcare Nov. 18 announced an initiative designed to advance the use of digital technology in sharing patient outcome information and in connecting disparate health care information technology systems.
The initiative involves collaboration between GE Healthcare, a unit of General Electric Co., Utah's Intermountain Healthcare, Mayo Clinic Rochester, Montefiore Medical Center in New York, and the University of California San Francisco Medical Center.
The partnership involves the development of an open architecture allowing the sharing of patient data and best practices among physicians, Marc Probst, chief information officer for Intermountain Healthcare, told BNA.
Initiative Begun Two Years Ago.
Intermountain Healthcare began the initiative just more than two years ago, and is looking forward to the collaboration that will establish a common platform for health care IT, he said.
The open architecture is designed to allow patients to seamlessly share their personal electronic health records with various medical professionals.
GE said the collaboration partners have agreed to commit more than $200 million and 400 engineers over the course of developing the framework. GE said the framework is helping to deliver "the promise of lower cost, higher-quality healthcare" spanning the entire continuum of care—"from the doctor's office to the patient's home."
John Dineen, president and chief executive officer of GE Healthcare, said the use of digital technology is a "key component to tackling the most difficult issue facing the healthcare system today: globally accessible, low-cost delivery of high-quality care."
Best Practices Partnership.
GE also announced it has formed a partnership with Intermountain Healthcare and Mayo Clinic Rochester to enable the timely sharing of newly published medical breakthroughs and best practices with health care providers via ongoing updates applicable to their areas of expertise.
Probst told BNA this will give physicians access to diagnostic research and treatment findings on a "near real-time basis."
For example, as new findings are released on breast cancer treatment, that information would be forwarded automatically to physicians treating patients battling with the disease, he said.
By Tripp Baltz
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