GE launches eHealth unit to better connect clinical info

One of healthcare’s most pressing problems is that important clinical information is fragmented – having been trapped in different information technology systems in multiple clinics and hospitals. To help build-out the common framework needed to connect doctors to each other — and to their patients — GE Healthcare today announced the launch of a new business unit, eHealth. Its aim is to integrate disparate data into a single, accurate clinical picture — and then turn that integrated picture into real-time insight.

Clickable care: One of the technologies in the new unit is LifeSensor, which is a secure, web-based health record that lets patients access their health histories and collaborate with doctors.

The challenge, says Dr. Brandon Savage, chief medical officer of GE Healthcare IT, is that “wide variations in clinical terminology, patient identification methods and systems architecture makes integrating health information exceptionally difficult.” The goal of the $90 million investment GE is making in the eHealth unit is to use technologies to solve that integration issue. The connected systems can help reduce costs by eliminating redundant procedures — and they can help reduce life-threatening medical errors, 20 percent of which currently occur due to the lack of immediate access to patient health information.

One of the technologies in the new unit is the web-based patient health records system known as LifeSensor, which helps patients manage chronic diseases, nutrition and fitness. LifeSensor is the result of seven years of development by GE’s strategic partner InterComponentWare (ICW). It integrates with GE’s Health Information Exchange, which ensures clinical data from different systems — including medication history, laboratory results, radiology images, and referrals — can be securely shared between doctors. In the audio clip below, ICW’s Tanya Bateman describes how LifeSensor works.

Other technologies in the new unit include the eHealth Clinical Portal, which structures and displays clinical information for doctors so that it’s clear, understandable and more useful. There is also GE’s Master Patient Index (MPI) technology, which matches patient records from different facilities.

* Read today’s announcement
* Read “GE’s Bid to Connect Computerized Health Records” in The New York Times
* Read “Flu fighters: CDC picks GE Healthcare to track H1N1” on GE Reports
* Read “GE tests technology to boost CDC’s rapid-response” on GE Reports
* Read “GE’s EMRs: Connecting the docs in 10 communities” on GE Reports
* Read a story about GE’s program to speed adoption of EMRs