Commonground
Senior Moderator
Wednesday, October 28, 2009 9:09 PM EDT
By Rachel Layne | Bloomberg News <table id="phototable" border="0" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="0" width="325"> </table> FAIRFIELD ? General Electric Co., the biggest provider of health-care information systems, was chosen to report data on swine flu and seasonal influenza activity to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
GE, also the world's biggest maker of medical-imaging equipment, will provide anonymous information gathered from its 14 million patient records every 24 hours to help the agency monitor the spread of the H1N1 virus in real time, the Connecticut-based company said in a statement Wednesday.
Daily reports will come from a database of information automatically updated by doctors using GE's electronic medical- record systems. Patients' identifying information is removed from the record in accordance with federal law, GE said.
The CDC, based in Atlanta, said the virus has killed at least 411 people in the U.S. and hospitalized more than 8,200 from Aug. 30 through Oct. 17. The monitoring system will help the CDC better track outbreaks and who may be at risk, GE said, citing the agency.
GE competes with Siemens AG and Royal Philips Electronics NV in medical-imaging equipment and health-care information systems. GE Healthcare, based in the U.K., provided $17.4 billion of the parent company's $182.5 billion in sales last year.
The contract is for a year, and GE has already started providing data, spokesman Corey Miller said.
GE fell 51 cents, or 3.4 percent, to $14.42 at 4 p.m. in New York Stock Exchange composite trading. The shares have declined 11 percent this year.
http://www.rep-am.com/articles/2009/10/28/business/445991.txt
By Rachel Layne | Bloomberg News <table id="phototable" border="0" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="0" width="325"> </table> FAIRFIELD ? General Electric Co., the biggest provider of health-care information systems, was chosen to report data on swine flu and seasonal influenza activity to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
GE, also the world's biggest maker of medical-imaging equipment, will provide anonymous information gathered from its 14 million patient records every 24 hours to help the agency monitor the spread of the H1N1 virus in real time, the Connecticut-based company said in a statement Wednesday.
Daily reports will come from a database of information automatically updated by doctors using GE's electronic medical- record systems. Patients' identifying information is removed from the record in accordance with federal law, GE said.
The CDC, based in Atlanta, said the virus has killed at least 411 people in the U.S. and hospitalized more than 8,200 from Aug. 30 through Oct. 17. The monitoring system will help the CDC better track outbreaks and who may be at risk, GE said, citing the agency.
GE competes with Siemens AG and Royal Philips Electronics NV in medical-imaging equipment and health-care information systems. GE Healthcare, based in the U.K., provided $17.4 billion of the parent company's $182.5 billion in sales last year.
The contract is for a year, and GE has already started providing data, spokesman Corey Miller said.
GE fell 51 cents, or 3.4 percent, to $14.42 at 4 p.m. in New York Stock Exchange composite trading. The shares have declined 11 percent this year.
http://www.rep-am.com/articles/2009/10/28/business/445991.txt