Healthcare Information Exchange, Advanced Patient Security Highlighted at Site Visit

The State Alliance for e-Health is an initiative designed to improve the nation's health care system through the formation of a collaborative body of governors, state legislators and other state leaders that enables states to increase the efficiency and effectiveness of the HIT initiatives they develop. GE Healthcare’s Integrated IT Solutions business was recently selected by Vermont Information Technology Leaders (VITL) to provide the health information technology infrastructure for a statewide health information organization (RHIO).

During the morning session, GE experts demonstrated three practical approaches to HIT for Vermont Governor Jim Douglas, Tennessee Governor Phil Bredesen, and members of the State Alliance for e-Health.

* Patient Privacy and Security: how to implement the 4 A’s (Authentication, Access, Authorization, Audit) using IHE profiles, and the need to harmonize state-to-state policies.
* Provider reporting tools: how GE enables providers to report on their quality of care against clinical guidelines and measures. GE shared its experience setting up quality outcomes reporting solutions.
* Hosting Center Tour: GE showcased the company’s development of a state-of-the-art hosting center for the GE eCommerce clearinghouse. This clearinghouse processes more than 10 million claim transactions per month and was developed to provide superior integration of the HIPAA administrative transactions into the workflow of GE applications.

"The State Alliance for e-Health has brought together policy makers from across the nation to address health IT issues and challenges to enabling appropriate, interoperable, electronic health information exchange," said Vermont Gov. Jim Douglas, co-chair of the Alliance. "I am so pleased that we were able to bring the Alliance to Vermont to discuss the importance of electronic health records and state and national trends surrounding this critical issue. The GE site visit, in particular, was a unique opportunity to highlight and learn from a premier company in Vermont that is leading the nation in electronic health technology."

GE Healthcare’s Integrated IT Solutions business provides comprehensive clinical & financial information technology solutions including enterprise and departmental Information Technology products, RIS/PACS and CVIS systems, revenue cycle management and practice applications, to help customers streamline healthcare costs and improve the quality of care.

“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 work with the NGA State Alliance for e-Health to help develop real-world solutions and model practices for improving the quality and efficiency of health care.” -GE news