GE Healthcare to Provide Infrastructure for Vermont Health Information Exchange.

GE teams with Orion Health to Provide Key Disease Management Technology to Help Physicians Improve Their Quality of Care

BARRINGTON, ILL. & MONTPELIER, Vt. -- GE Healthcare, a division of General Electric Company (NYSE: GE), announced today that it has been selected by Vermont Information Technology Leaders (VITL) to provide the health information technology infrastructure for a state-wide health information organization (RHIO).

The Vermont Health Information Exchange will focus on the following major projects:

* A comprehensive medication history for all consenting patients that will be initially available in the emergency departments of two pilot hospitals

* A chronic care information system that will help participating caregivers manage enrolled patients with diabetes

VITL will also focus on writing a state health information technology plan by July 2007, which will include the development of a statewide health information exchange (HIE) that will connect providers, payors, and patients throughout the state of Vermont. The HIE will facilitate data exchange between multiple Vermont healthcare stakeholders, and will be structured to allow standards-based applications from additional vendors and future stakeholders to plug into the network and add to the wealth of data being shared. Additionally, through its open, standards-based architecture, VITL will enable clinicians across the state utilizing 3rd party EMR systems to access the health information exchange.

The first project that will go live is the medication history. This project will provide comprehensive medication history data compiled from payor claims history and eventually include pharmacy records. The goal is to ultimately expand the project from two pilot sites to all 15 emergency departments in the state. As a strong proponent of interoperability, standards and health information exchange, GE will implement practical solutions using industry standards, including standards promoted by the American Health Information Community (AHIC), and its related standards, certification, and privacy organizations (HITSP, CCHIT, and HISPC).

As a leading provider of clinical workflow and integration technology for the healthcare sector, Orion Health will provide its Concerto medical applications portal to review and report chronic disease data, Concerto Clinicals Disease Management application to manage and leverage that data, and the Rhapsody Integration Engine to ensure smooth communication between new and existing information management systems and partner applications. The chronic care project will leverage technology from Orion Health in conjunction with GE's Centricity[R] electronic medical record (EMR) software to eventually save data within the Centricity EMR so that clinicians can readily view historical patient information.

Orion Health has delivered similar solutions globally, including the Capital Health region-wide health record and Disease Management solution in the province of Calgary, Canada, where more than 2,000 physicians and over 6,500 other authorized health care staff access an extensive range of patient lab results, medication information, clinical notes and demographic information.

"We believe that the Vermont's health information exchange efforts to deliver real-value results through improved access to medication histories and chronic care management will ensure its success," says Paul Viskovich, President of Orion Health, North America. "We are pleased to be part of such a ground-breaking project, and believe the ease of deployment and high-value, lower total cost of ownership of Orion Health's solutions will help contribute to its success."

GE's Centricity[R] Electronic Medical Record (EMR) system will be housed at the GE data center in Chittenden County, Vt. VITL will also explore the possibility of offering Vermont physicians the option of full access to GE's Centricity EMR via an application service provider (ASP) arrangement.

GE's Centricity EMR enables physicians and clinical staff to document patient encounters electronically, streamline clinical workflow, and securely exchange data with other providers, payors, and information systems. GE's Centricity EMR's powerful decision support tools can also help inform Vermont physicians of harmful drug interactions with automated medication checking and help physicians proactively manage patient health with reminders for tests or procedures.

VITL will work collaboratively with the Vermont Blueprint for Health, a ground-breaking statewide initiative of the Vermont Department of Health, to build the chronic care information system. Blueprint for Health is a public-private partnership that provides Vermonters living with chronic conditions the information, tools and support they need to successfully manage their health. Its chronic care model seeks to shift the focus of healthcare from the largely reactive treatment of symptoms to a more proactive approach to prevention.

VITL received $1.4 million in seed funding from the state legislature. Over the next five years, revenue generated from various offerings is projected to make the health information exchange financially self-sustaining.

"We expect the health information exchange will play a significant role in reining in spiraling healthcare costs, especially for the state's Medicaid population," said Cy Jordan, MD, MPH, and chair of VITL. "The greatest value to be realized, however, will not necessarily be measured in dollars and cents. It will be in the reduction of medical errors, the elimination of duplicate diagnostic procedures, better management of chronic illness, and overall improvement in the quality of healthcare statewide."

Health Information Exchanges are an important building block in the federal government's national health information network initiative, which seeks to create an electronic health record for every American by the year 2014. By making accurate, comprehensive health information available wherever patients receive care - whether it's in the office of their primary care provider or in an emergency department in a distant state - health information exchanges can help both providers and patients make more informed decisions about healthcare and treatment options.

"Because of its size, Vermont is an ideal state to test the health information exchange concept," said Vermont Health Commissioner Sharon Moffatt. "Our hope is that enhanced access to information will better enable providers to comprehensively diagnose and treat patients with chronic conditions."

"Harnessing health information will lead to the next great transformation in healthcare. It will empower both providers and patients to collaborate, improving outcomes and quality of life," said Vishal Wanchoo, president and CEO of GE Healthcare Integrated IT Solutions. "As a leading proponent of standards-based interoperability we believe in creating health information exchanges that are inclusive, secure, affordable, and self-sustaining. GE Healthcare is very pleased to be a partner in this pivotal effort which we believe will provide significant value to the citizens of Vermont and set an example for other communities seeking to achieve similar goals."

About Vermont Information Technology Leaders

Vermont Information Technology Leaders (VITL) is the health information exchange for the state of Vermont. A not-for-profit organization, VITL received start-up funding from the Vermont Legislature. A broad base of stakeholders is involved in VITL, including hospitals, physicians, other health services providers, patients, insurers, employers, state agencies, and information technology vendors. VITL is developing a health information technology plan for the state of Vermont, and will facilitate the exchange of health data to improve quality and lower the cost of health care in the state. For more information about VITL, visit www.vitl.net

About Orion Health

Orion Health's easy-to-use applications and tools integrate and enhance existing healthcare information systems and deliver secure, universal access to information. The innovative company delivers an end-to-end information technology (IT) integration platform that brings together clinical content to improve clinician effectiveness and the quality of patient care.

Orion Health's partners include leading health and IT vendors such as Oracle Corporation, Philips Medical Systems, LogicaCMG, Hewlett Packard, McKesson, and Sierra Systems. Orion also has more than 10,000 clients worldwide including Johns Hopkins Hospital, New York State Department of Health, Central Washington Hospital, US Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and many more. More information can be found at www.orionhealth.com

About GE Healthcare

GE Healthcare provides transformational medical technologies that are shaping a new age of patient care. Our expertise in medical imaging and information technologies, medical diagnostics, patient monitoring systems, drug discovery, and biopharmaceutical manufacturing technologies is helping clinicians around the world re-imagine new ways to predict, diagnose, inform and treat disease, so their patients can live their lives to the fullest.

GE Healthcare's broad range of products and services enable healthcare providers to better diagnose and treat cancer, heart disease, neurological diseases, and other conditions earlier. Our vision for the future is to enable a new "early health" model of care focused on earlier diagnosis, pre-symptomatic disease detection and disease prevention.

Headquartered in the United Kingdom, GE Healthcare is a $15 billion unit of General Electric Company (NYSE: GE). Worldwide, GE Healthcare employs more than 43,000 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.