‘Losers’ win! Throughout Season 9 of The Biggest Loser, the show’s doctor, Robert Huizenga, M.D, will access the health records of contestants using GE’s Centricity EMR.

While the broadcast exposure in front of millions of viewers is certainly fun, GE’s Centricity EMR team says that using the system on the popular show can play an important role in helping to elevate awareness among patients and doctors about the power healthcare IT has in improving care.

The technology, which is already used by thousands of clinicians every day, will show how going digital can help reduce costs, increase access and improve care — all of which are goals of GE’s healthymagination initiative. For example, EMRs do more than simply replace a doctor’s paper chart. These systems check for drug interactions, flag health protocols when it comes to procedures and health maintenance, and they track a patient’s condition over time. And for clinics such as the ones featured in our recent story about Collier Health Services in Florida, EMRs are helping to connect doctors in 10 different clinics. The technology allows patients in the system to access care from multiple locations — and it provides other practical benefits, such as letting the doctor electronically transmit prescriptions to pharmacies, which dramatically cuts wait times.

High tech for low pounds: The Biggest Loser challenges and encourages overweight contestants to shed pounds in a safe manner through comprehensive diet and exercise. The series has become a worldwide hit airing in over 90 countries and produced in 25 countries.

* Learn more about GE’s Electronic Medical Records
* See a short clip of the EMR on the show

Read about GE’s EMRs and healthcare IT work in these GE Reports stories:
* “Forging a ‘triangle of care’ with EMRs in Plano, Texas”
* “Inside the revolution at Intermountain Healthcare”
* “GE launches eHealth unit to better connect clinical info”
* “Flu fighters: CDC picks GE Healthcare to track H1N1”
* ”GE tests technology to boost CDC’s rapid-response”
* “GE’s EMRs: Connecting the docs in 10 communities”

The name game: NBCU’s Lauren Zalaznick is in good company on Time magazine’s list with heavy hitters from Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton to Brad Pitt and the guys who created Twitter.

Martha Stewart writes the profile of Lauren in the magazine, saying: “When you’re building a brand, you have to know exactly what that brand stands for… Her programs are filled with creative, talented and real people. Her shows, and those on them, don’t make any apologies for being themselves. Lauren, 46, has transformed that network so that you can now recognize a Bravo show at a distance. To do that kind of work in a very crowded field takes more than a producer — it takes a visionary.”

* Read Martha’s write-up in Time
* Read The New York Times‘ story about the deal with hulu.com, which just became the third most popular video site on the Web.

And, as long as we’re looking at lists, a tip of the hat was given to GE with its ranking on Forbes magazine’s annual list of “America’s Most Reputable Companies.” GE came in at No. 17. That’s behind PepsiCo, Google and Johnson & Johnson but ahead of Apple, Coca-Cola and IBM.

* See the full rankings
* Read the Forbes story
* Learn more about GE’s cable entertainment business

We’re watching you: USA’s shows such as “Law & Order: Criminal Intent,” starring Jeff Goldblum and Julianne Nicholson, are keeping the network humming.

One big item in its favor is “like broadcasters, USA earns money by selling advertisements. Unlike broadcasters, USA gets lucrative subscription fees paid by cable systems that carry it.” Says Bonnie Hammer, president of the unit that oversees USA Network and SciFi Channel, “There are two streams of revenue. That alone is a huge advantage.”

* Read “These are great times for the USA (cable network)”

Meanwhile, in its cover story, Broadcasting & Cable describes how Oxygen’s growth is continuing, with ad revenue increasing in the first quarter of this year and ratings among its target demographic of 18-34-year-old women jumping by “more than any other network in ad-supported cable’s top 30.” The magazine asked if NBCU thought it could repeat the great success it had growing Bravo. Said Jeff Gaspin, president and COO of Universal Television Group: “I see no reason why Oxygen shouldn’t follow the trajectory of Bravo. I actually think Oxygen has a better sense of who they are than Bravo did in its first couple of years under our ownership.”

* Read “Breathing New Life Into Oxygen”

And TV Week gives NBC Universal high marks for the other kind of green, writing in a story this week that it has been able to “generate tens of millions of dollars worth of sponsorship revenue” in its various green-themed campaigns. “The scale of NBC Universal’s green promotions sets it apart from other media companies, such as CBS Corp. and Discovery Communications, which also have linked their programming and marketing to environmentally friendly themes. It’s a seam that hasn’t been tapped out yet,” TV Week writes. “Research by NBC and by some of its sponsors shows environmental consciousness is a value that is surviving the recession. Consumers say they would spend more for something from a green company, even in this economic environment.”

Read “At NBCU, Green Means Green”

It’s Hammer time: NBC Universal is in the spotlight this week, with more eyes on its strong cable properties including USA Network, which is helmed by Bonnie Hammer, far right, and features stars such as Tony Shalhoub in “Monk” and Debra Messing in “The Starter Wife.”

* Read the story
* Read “Ratings equal cash at NBC”

NBCU is also in the spotlight this week with USA Today’s profile of Bonnie Hammer, president of the unit that oversees cable’s biggest channel, USA Network, and SciFi Channel. “I can tell you that our (operating profit) margins are well over 50%. I’m very proud of that,” Bonnie told the paper. Revenue at USA is 13% ahead of the first quarter in 2008, which was its “best year ever in ratings, revenues, operating profit and margin — bar none,” according to Bonnie. The story notes USA and SciFi contributed more than $1 billion to NBCU’s 2008 profits.

* Read the USA Today story
* Learn about USA’s “Characters”

In other news, GE Hitachi Nuclear Energy just announced the signing of two agreements with two government-owned companies in India as the firms prepare to collaborate on building multiple GE Hitachi-designed nuclear reactors. The agreements will help the world’s largest democracy meet its goal of expanding electricity generation tenfold by 2032. GE, which employs more than 14,500 people across India, built the country’s first nuclear plant during the 1960s.

* Read the story in India’s Business Standard
* Read GE’s announcement

And the magazine Global Water Intelligence talked with GE Water president Heiner Markhoff, who underscored GE’s goal in the industry of being a technology supplier rather than an engineering, procurement and construction contractor. “The sweet spot for GE was and will be technology,” Heiner says. “I think in this environment we have to think much more about partnerships where we work with players who can bring things together. I do not want us being the integrator of bits and pieces…. I think that the core of our offering in this business is technology, and bringing differentiated technologies to market which will help solve major problems.”

* Read “New GE Water boss makes his mark”

In the money: Maria Bartiromo is part of the CNBC team driving NBC Universal’s ratings successes.

One of NBC Universal’s successes is CNBC, about which the paper writes in a separate story. Although the Times story does quote critics of CNBC at length, the paper, noting its record ratings, says: “CNBC is a boon to NBC Universal’s bottom line; it has posted record profits for at least the last three years and [president Mark] Hoffman says the first quarter of 2009 has been ‘very strong’ for the network.”

Read the story: CNBC Thrives as Hosts Deliver News with Attitude