GE features cornucopia of offerings

Healthcare device and systems provider GE Healthcare featured an extensive portfolio of products and systems at the 2008 HIMSS conference in Orlando, Fla.

The centerpiece of its offerings was its Centricity family of information systems. The company highlighted Centricity Enterprise, an integrated clinical, financial and administrative solution that helps to streamline workflow and improve productivity across the continuum of care.

Centricity Enterprise Remote Services was showcased as a technology that delivers Centricity Enterprise within a remote-hosted, application service provider (ASP) model. This approach makes Centricity Enterprise available to healthcare provider organizations of any size as a service, minimizing the need for in-house resources, maintenance and equipment.

  
GE Healthcare’s Carescape Mobile Viewers allow for the display of patient data on a variety of form factors. 
Centricity EMR, a CCHIT-certified electronic medical record (EMR) for ambulatory care was demonstrated in the Orange County Convention Center exhibition hall. Among its features, GE said that Centricity EMR provides quality outcomes reporting, which allows for results-based reimbursement. Nationally accepted care guidelines are embedded at the point of care within the clinician’s current workflow. The EMR securely exchanges clinical data with other providers, patients and information systems. The company also spotlighted its Centricity EMR for Specialty Care.

Centricity Laboratory, a laboratory information system (LIS), provides the capability to manage each step of the testing process from the moment the test is ordered to the storage or disposal of the specimen. Advanced, specialized functionality has been developed to handle the workflow for each area of the labs, including: clinical chemistry, hematology, immunology, microbiology, anatomical pathology/cytology, transfusion medicine and phlebotomy.

Centricity Perinatal, a system that supports the capability to deliver fetal strip documentation to all caregivers, was spotlighted by GE. Decision support from a newly available obstetrical database can be at clinician fingertips, while configured alerts and reminders are ready to notify them that attention is needed. The system allows the collection of key data, supports NICU-specific documentation and workflow, and enhances advanced practice capabilities, GE said.

Centricity Perioperative Information System drew attention from conference attendees with tools designed to facilitate turnkey perioperative phase clinical documentation. The system features multi-site functionality, expedited on-site or web-based scheduling, comprehensive resource management, simplification of inventory control, and has an integrated sterile processing module.

Its anesthesia and surgery management information modules are an integrated, end-to-end solution intended to streamline perioperative workflow and provide users with personalized clinical cockpits, clinical knowledge management on demand, decision support, and efficient and effective care delivery documentation.

Centricity Pharmacy, a comprehensive medication management solution that manages the end-to-end workflow of the pharmacy department, was displayed. The system interfaces to other information systems and devices to ensure the seamless movement of information between caregivers in the process of distributing medications.

The company featured its latest offering in the RIS/PACS market, Centricity Radiology-IW (RIS-IC/IntegradWeb PACS). The system brings together a completely portable diagnostic workstation provided by Centricity PACS-IW (formerly IntegradWeb PACS) with the total workflow management, robust patient tracking, and film management provided by Centricity RIS-IC, the company said.

Centricity PACS-IW is a web-based PACS that is available anywhere an internet connection is available and can connect a community hospital to its physicians regardless of their location. Centricity RIS-IC offers seamless information access, total workflow management and robust patient tracking and film management that is built on a true web-based architecture, according to GE.

For single-site physician offices with one to three physicians, Centricity Imaging for the Physician Office is a simple, streamlined and supported digital imaging solution scaled to the needs of the practice. From a single-site imaging solution to data sharing across multiple sites, Centricity’s web-based architecture offers a single point of access for images and reports while providing clinical tools that enhance clinical decision-making, the company said.

For multi-site physician offices, Centricity PACS Office-IW provides a web-based workstation for accessibility to images and workflow across multiple organizations. Centricity PACS Office-IW also offers embedded orthopedic templating tools for surgical planning, EMR integration, and anywhere DICOM print and IHE PDI CD burning.

GE Healthcare Integrated IT Solutions demonstrated its enterprise-wide products that optimize radiology and cardiology throughput. Featured solutions included Centricity Radiology, a RIS/PACS solution that streamlines workflow and offers comprehensive diagnostic tools. Centricity Rad/Card enables the expansion of imaging technology by delivering a common infrastructure for all radiology and cardiology needs, the company said.

The firm introduced Centricity OneView, a way to connect different RIS and PACS products across an enterprise. Centricity OneView enables comprehensive clinical information integrated with global worklists and common workflows, according to GE.

On the business and financial side, Centricity Practice Solution was displayed and put through its paces at the conference. The system provides integrated clinical and financial solutions to help practices automate routine tasks, set care quality and business performance targets, and improve overall performance. The result is enhanced efficiency, informed decision-making, and the capacity to deliver the best patient care possible, GE said.

GE Healthcare IT also announced at HIMSS a partnership with Intel Corporation and Motion Computing to create a mobile computing solution designed to eliminate the manual collection of patient vital sign data. Slated for deployment at the University of California San Francisco Medical Center, the goal is to provide nurses with a mobile, clinician-centric workflow that incorporates the Motion C5 mobile clinical assistant from Intel into vital sign collection using Centricity Enterprise in-patient EMR software and GE’s Dinamap patient monitoring devices, according to the company.

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