Advocate Health Care and GE Healthcare Join to Further Reduce Patient CT Radiation Dose

OAK BROOK, Ill.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Advocate Health Care, one of the nation's top health systems and the largest integrated health care system in the state of Illinois, and GE Healthcare, a national leader in low dose, high performance imaging, today announced a joint effort to help further reduce radiation dose in Computed Tomography (CT). The goal is to optimize care for patients needing imaging procedures and reduce radiation where possible without adversely impacting image quality. It’s one of the first announcements of the GE Blueprint for low dose, a comprehensive campaign in which GE Healthcare is working alongside leading U.S. health systems to further reduce radiation dose in CT imaging. Leaders from Advocate and GE Healthcare unveiled the Advocate-based GE Blueprint for low dose today during an event at Advocate Lutheran General Hospital.

“Building upon our announcement last November to invest more than $800 million in the development of low-dose technologies over 15 years, GE Blueprint will help hospitals optimize imaging departments systemically and significantly.”

“Advocate Health Care is committed to delivering the best health outcomes for our patients,” said John Anastos, D.O., chairman of radiology at Advocate Lutheran General Hospital. “By providing the best-in-class diagnostic capabilities, and leveraging advanced technologies to capture the highest-quality CT images, we ensure all of our patients receive the lowest possible radiation dose in each and every procedure.”

Advocate’s radiation dose reduction program includes a plan to install the GE DoseWatch software on all of its diagnostic and radiation therapy CT scanners. The technology allows for precise management of dose data. Advocate will also participate in the American College of Radiology (ACR) Dose Index Registry (DIR). The national database allows CT facilities to compare their dose levels to other CT facilities across the country.

Additionally, Advocate will hold an annual radiation dose symposium designed to educate associates on the latest in CT technology, clinical protocols and best practices for radiation dose reduction. A CT Steering Committee will oversee and monitor the program’s effectiveness.

CT imaging is a critical tool in helping physicians diagnose disease and has positively impacted millions of lives. Historically, physicians have had to balance the desires for high image quality and low radiation dose levels in CT. Through ongoing collaboration with healthcare leaders including Advocate, GE is changing the equation in diagnostic imaging. Launched in June 2012, GE Blueprint offers a comprehensive approach based on an assessment of a health care provider’s technology, people and processes and helps identify breakthrough imaging technologies, system-specific solutions and processes, and comprehensive imaging “blueprints” to help providers achieve low-dose, high-definition diagnostic capabilities. Additionally, solutions such as DoseWatch*, a first-of-its-kind management tool, will further enable Advocate Health Care and other providers to measure, track and optimize patient radiation dose over time.

“GE Healthcare has long collaborated with healthcare providers as they work to continuously reduce radiation dose in CT imaging,” said Steve Gray, vice president and general manager for Computed Tomography at GE Healthcare. “Building upon our announcement last November to invest more than $800 million in the development of low-dose technologies over 15 years, GE Blueprint will help hospitals optimize imaging departments systemically and significantly.”

Leveraging a team of “Low Dose Architects,” GE Blueprint helps Advocate and other hospital systems assess their dose management programs, and collaborates on recommendations for end-to-end dose management, including staff education, process improvements, equipment assessments and CT technologies that can enable low-dose, high-definition imaging.

For more information, please visit www.gehealthcare.com/GEBlueprint.

* Trademark of General Electric Company

ABOUT ADVOCATE HEALTH CARE

Advocate Health Care, named among the nation’s top health systems, is the largest health system in Illinois and one of the largest health care providers in the Midwest. Advocate operates more than 250 sites of care, including 10 acute care hospitals, two integrated children’s hospitals, five Level I trauma centers (the state’s highest designation in trauma care), two Level II trauma centers, one of the area’s largest home health care companies and one of the region’s largest medical groups. Advocate Health Care trains more primary care physicians and residents at its four teaching hospitals than any other health system in the state. As a not-for-profit, mission-based health system affiliated with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America and the United Church of Christ, Advocate contributed $571 million in charitable care and services to communities across Chicagoland and Central Illinois in 2011.

ABOUT GE HEALTHCARE

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.

For our latest news, please visit http://newsroom.gehealthcare.com.