BARRINGTON, IL. and SALT LAKE CITY, UT, - GE Healthcare, a division of General Electric Company (NYSE: GE) has expanded its alliance with Intermountain Healthcare to include the development of standardized terminology, clinical knowledge management technology and clinical process content as part of their multi-year project for the development of an enterprise clinical information system built on GEs Centricity Enterprise Solution. Together, GE Healthcare and Intermountain are working to help enhance patient care by accelerating the adoption of electronic health records and the use of evidence-based medicine and other forms of best practice among health systems in the United States.

As part of the new agreement, GE and Intermountain will work together to enhance the Centricity Enterprise Solution by developing and incorporating standardized vocabulary and clinical element models that will help enable the use of clinical data, such as protocols for optimal use of antibiotics, providing clinicians with critical decision support tools at the point of care.

Its about bringing science from the research arena to the bedside quicker, said Mark Dente, MD and vice president of Healthcare Solutions for GE Healthcare Integrated IT Solutions. Today the amount of time it takes for the widespread adoption of the latest medical treatments and protocols is entirely too long, but with the use of information technology we can make the latest medical information breakthroughs accessible and easier for physicians, nurses and others to implement.


According to David Burton, Vice President for Health Delivery Research at Intermountain Healthcare, standardized clinical content can improve patient care dramatically. A study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association found that although the U.S. spends two-and-one-half times the average amount spent by other industrialized countries for health care, Americans may experience worse health outcomes. Additionally, while the U.S. has the most advanced medical technology in the world, barely half of Americans get appropriate acute, chronic or preventive care, according to a study published in the New England Journal of Medicine.

It is time we made use of breakthrough science, best clinical practices and evidence- based medicine to improve patient care and reduce medical errors by making it available and actionable for physicians and patients during routine visits, said Burton. Beginning with standardized terminology, we will lay the foundation of a common language so that physicians, nurses and other bedside caregivers will have the latest guidelines available in the clinic and at the bedside.

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