GE Healthcare's Diagnostic Imaging System First in Canada to Achieve Infoway Certification

Assures product built according to national privacy, security and interoperability standards

TORONTO, April 23, 2012 /CNW/ - The foundation for interoperable digital diagnostic imaging systems in Canada was strengthened today with the Infoway certification of GE Healthcare Canada's Centricity™ Enterprise Archive v4.0 DI-r Class Diagnostic Imaging System, announced Richard Alvarez, President and CEO, Canada Health Infoway (Infoway).

"I congratulate GE Healthcare Canada for having their Centricity™ Enterprise Archive v4.0 DI-r Class Diagnostic Imaging System application become the first in its class to successfully complete the Infoway certification process," said Alvarez. "Digital diagnostic imaging has already played a role in generating cost savings and efficiencies of more than $800 million annually across Canada, and we believe that as the interoperability and use of solutions matures, further gains are possible."

The application will receive the Infoway certification mark, which demonstrates GE Healthcare's leadership and commitment to national standards and best practices.

"GE Healthcare believes in the power of IT to make a difference in patients' lives," said Mike Clarke, General Manager of GE Healthcare Canada IT.  "Receiving Canada Health Infoway certification represents our commitment to our customers and the patients they serve.  I am proud that our standards-based Enterprise Archive meets the stringent national DI-r certification requirements, allowing our customers to meet their enterprise imaging initiatives with a secure, unified architecture that provides a single point of access to a patient's imaging records."

Centricity™ Enterprise Archive v4.0 DI-r Class Diagnostic Imaging System consolidates data from different departments and hospitals into a single reliable system, simplifying the archive of "multi-ology" images, huge datasets, diagnostic reports, and other clinical information.  Its unified, standards-based architecture, combined with support for IHE-XDS/XDSi and an intuitive, web-based viewer, enables healthcare organizations to realize their vision of multi-disciplinary information exchange. The Enterprise Archive consolidated IT-infrastructure has demonstrated its performance and scalability in large implementations with vendor neutral support of multiple applications.

"Value for money is crucial when investing in any DI-r system," said Bruce Sutton, Vice President and Chief Information Officer of the Thunder Bay Regional Health Sciences Centre and member of the North Eastern Ontario Diagnostic Imaging Network's management committee.  "Infoway certification demonstrates compliance with national standards, which is key when considering which product to choose."

Infoway Certification Services provides a national process to certify trusted, standards-based health information solutions. It offers pre-implementation certification for the following technology classes:

• Consumer Health Application
• Consumer Health Platform
• Diagnostic Imaging
• Drug Information System
• Electronic Medical Record
• Immunization Registry
• Client Registry
• Provider Registry
• Ambulatory Electronic Medical Record

About GE Healthcare Canada

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 around the world. Headquartered in the United Kingdom, GE Healthcare is a unit of General Electric Company (NYSE: GE). Worldwide, GE Healthcare employees are 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 Canada Health Infoway
Canada Health Infoway is an independent, not-for-profit organization funded by the federal government. Infoway jointly invests with every province and territory to accelerate the development and adoption of information and communications technology projects in Canada. Fully respecting patient confidentiality, these secure systems will provide clinicians and patients with the information they need to better support safe care decisions and manage their own health. Accessing this vital information quickly will help foster a more modern and sustainable health care system for all Canadians.

Dan Strasbourg
Director, Media Relations
Canada Health Infoway
Tel.: [phone]
[e-mail]