"We are very proud to add PQRI reporting to the many examples of resources to further their clinical mission while simultaneously having strong return on investment metrics for our Centricity customers" said James M. Corrigan, Vice President and General Manager, GE Healthcare IT. "With over 35 years of enabling business performance while helping our customers optimize clinical care, this effort underscores our commitment to closing industry gaps between efficiency and quality of patient care."

As GE provides a unique combination of Centricity EMR and MQIC registry function, the addition of PQRI reporting collects and automates the reporting process as part of its standard patient documentation workflow. When physicians document encounters for qualified patients, the solution can capture PQRI measurement data, with the option to automate CMS submission without additional administrative work. GE Healthcare's solution will allow its customers practicing primary care, cardiology, and endocrinology to participate in PQRI without the added overhead of submitting additional billing codes.

"Participating in pay-for-performance programs like PQRI would be beneficial to our practice, but historically we have had to weigh the effort with the potential payout," said Richard Sadja, Chief Financial Officer, Family Practice of Glendale. "I am pleased to see GE providing automated submission tools that can alleviate some of the additional work required for participation. This shifts our evaluation of the return on investment, and as a result we may be able to move up our plans to participate."

PQRI is a voluntary program that provides financial incentives (1.5% of allowed charges) to physicians who successfully report on a specified set of quality measures for the services that they provide to patients under the Medicare Physician Fee Schedule. It was made permanent by the Medicare Improvements for Patients and Providers Act (MIPPA) legislation enacted in July 2008. In 2009, the incentive will increase to 2%.

ABOUT CENTRICITY ELECTRONIC MEDICAL RECORD:
Centricity EMR is an electronic medical record system that enables ambulatory care physicians and clinical staff to document patient encounters, streamline clinical workflow, and securely exchange clinical data with other providers, patients, and information systems.

Centricity EMR is used by thousands of physicians to manage millions of patient records, and is among the most widely used ambulatory care electronic medical records. Centricity EMR empowers healthcare providers to deliver the highest quality of care at lower costs.

Centricity EMR version 9.0 from GE Healthcare is a CCHIT Certified® product for Certification Commission for Healthcare Information Technology (CCHIT® ) Ambulatory EHR 2007. The Commission's product certification designates that a healthcare information technology product has been tested against a comprehensive set of functionality, interoperability and security criteria and has passed inspection of 100 percent of the criteria. The Certification Commission's inspection process is based on real-life medical scenarios designed to test products rigorously against the clinical documentation needs of providers and the quality and safety needs of healthcare consumers and payers.

CCHIT® and CCHIT Certified® are registered marks of the Certification Commission for Healthcare Information Technology.

ABOUT GE HEALTHCARE:
GE Healthcare provides transformational medical technologies and services that are shaping a new age of patient care. Our expertise in medical imaging and information technologies, medical diagnostics, patient monitoring systems, performance improvement, drug discovery, and biopharmaceutical manufacturing technologies is helping clinicians around the world re-imagine new ways to predict, diagnose, inform, treat, and monitor disease, so 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 $17-billion unit of General Electric Company (NYSE: GE). Worldwide, GE Healthcare employs more than 46,000 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.