Centegra Health System Selects GE Centricity Enterprise

GE Healthcare, a leading provider of healthcare information technology, today announced Centegra Health System (McHenry, Ill.) selected GE’s Centricity Enterprise Electronic Medical Record (EMR), an integrated clinical, financial and administrative healthcare IT solution.

Centegra Health System serves the greater McHenry County region of northern Illinois and includes hospitals in McHenry and Woodstock, Ill., as well as several outpatient facilities. Centegra will deploy GE Centricity Enterprise to help healthcare providers improve the quality of care by automating workflows and offering immediate access to patient information at the point of care. Centricity Enterprise is used by nearly 200 hospitals and clinics across the globe, enabling clinical staff to document patient encounters and securely exchange clinical data with other providers, patients and information systems.

Centegra will adopt the GE Centricity Enterprise digital day one offering for rapid implementation. The solution includes pre-configured clinical templates for best practices in clinical workflows, developed in collaboration with leading hospitals across the country. These best practices help hospitals collect, analyze and report quality improvement metrics and are designed to improve the detection, diagnosis and treatment of care. Centegra will begin the implementation of GE’s integrated line of Centricity solutions immediately, as they work with GE to achieve “meaningful use”, with the goal of obtaining federal stimulus funds that are available to hospitals and physician offices in 2011.

Centegra selected GE, in part, because of a strong alignment on healthcare vision. GE’s healthymagination campaign, a commitment to drive down cost while increasing access and quality of care across the globe, aligns with Centegra’s philosophy for delivering high quality of healthcare and shaping a successful future for their organization.

”The opportunity to collaborate with GE as a partner and join a prestigious group of peers that are also customers of Centricity solutions ultimately factored into our decision as well,” said Michael Eesley, president and CEO of Centegra Health System. “But the breadth and depth of GE’s offering was probably the key. In short, we loved knowing that we weren’t just buying into a solution. We felt like we were buying into a partner. That’s a very comforting thought.”

Key components of the Centricity solutions include computerized physician order entry (CPOE), clinical documentation, perioperative and perinatal care, radiology information system (RIS), picture archiving and communications system (PACS), and an integrated financial suite for patient accounting and billing. With the Centricity Enterprise solution, hospitals of all sizes are able to quickly and easily drive best practice improvements in their organizations to improve communications between patient care teams.

“Many hospitals are looking for a strong healthcare IT partner who will provide the EMR technology and expertise not only to satisfy ‘meaningful use’ standards as they are introduced but further to sustain their investment and advancement of this technology for the long term,” said Vishal Wanchoo, President and CEO of GE Healthcare Information Technology. “Centegra’s hospitals are recognized for their commitment to the highest levels of patient care and state-of-the-art facilities. GE is proud to provide technology to help their clinicians continue to meet this well-earned reputation far into the future.”

ABOUT GE HEALTHCARE:

GE Healthcare provides transformational medical technologies and services that are shaping a new age of patient care. Our broad expertise in medical imaging and information technologies, medical diagnostics, patient monitoring systems, drug discovery, biopharmaceutical manufacturing technologies, performance improvement and performance solutions services help our customers to deliver better care to more people around the world at a lower cost. In addition, we partner with healthcare leaders, striving to leverage the global policy change necessary to implement a successful shift to sustainable healthcare systems.

Our "healthymagination" vision for the future invites the world to join us on our journey as we continuously develop innovations focused on reducing costs, increasing access and improving quality and efficiency around the world. Headquartered in the United Kingdom, GE Healthcare is a $17 billion unit of General Electric Company (NYSE: GE). Worldwide, GE Healthcare employs more than 46,000 people committed to serving healthcare professionals and their patients in more than 100 countries. For more information about GE Healthcare, visit our website at www.gehealthcare.com.

ABOUT CENTEGRA HEALTH SYSTEM

Centegra Health System was formed when Memorial Medical Center in Woodstock and Northern Illinois Medical Center in McHenry joined forces. Centegra serves the greater McHenry County region of northern Illinois and is the county's largest employer with over 3,100 Associates, 450 Physicians, and nearly 500 Volunteers. Centegra is committed to serving the community's health needs with genuine respect, passionate caring, and a joyful spirit. Centegra Health System has Level II Trauma Centers and Level II nurseries at both of its medical centers. In addition to Emergency Services and Obstetrics, Centegra has over 30 sites and is recognized for cardiac care, cancer care, rehabilitation services, occupational health, behavioral health services, and Centegra Health Bridge Fitness Center.

Centegra today is a leader among hospitals throughout the nation. Ranked among the best by organizations including Modern Healthcare Magazine, Thomson Reuters, and HealthGrades, Centegra is a recognized for its commitment to the highest levels of patient care and state-of-the-art facilities. As we look to the future we are committed bringing the highest levels of care and treatment to our region. For more information on Centegra Health System visit centegra.org or call 877-CENTEGRA (877-236-8347).