GE and Qwest Communications Sign Agreement to Revolutionize the Management of Medical Information
Companies Expect Up to $250 Million in Revenue from New Fiber Optic and Data Management Services for Hospitals and Healthcare Systems
MILWAUKEE, Wis. and DENVER - GE Medical Systems Information Technologies, a clinical information management unit of General Electric (NYSE: GE), and Qwest Communications International Inc. (NYSE: Q) have formed an exclusive, multi-year technology agreement to provide clinicians at healthcare systems with secure, reliable access to their patients’ clinical information. GE and Qwest will offer a robust Application Service Provider (ASP) model that enables hospitals across the country to electronically store their rapidly growing inventory of medical images securely off-site, and retrieve them at near instantaneous speeds. The Companies estimate that this ASP service will generate more than $250 million in top-line revenue, as more and more healthcare systems look to the all-digital future of medical information management.
GE will offer ASP services to hospitals and healthcare systems to securely and seamlessly transfer and store electronic medical data, such as X-rays, in Qwest’s worldwide web hosting CyberCenters(sm). Qwest will store and manage the medical data, significantly reducing the costs and management infrastructure of the healthcare system.
“Today’s leading healthcare systems are implementing new digital applications for data-intensive clinical areas, such as Radiology, at an unprecedented pace in order to improve both clinical and operational performance,” said Greg Lucier, president and CEO, GE Medical Systems Information Technologies. “With modern diagnostic imaging scanners now capable of producing up to 1,000 images per exam, digital capture, review and storage systems are an absolute necessity. This technology trend, when coupled with impending patient privacy regulations surrounding medical data has resulted in the need for GE’s ASP solution.”
“Qwest’s global, reliable and high-speed broadband network, as well as our secure CyberCenters, gives us the unique ability to offer GE Medical the hosting, storage, archiving and bandwidth to deliver to hospitals and doctors around the world,” said Joel Arnold, executive vice president, Qwest Global Business Markets. “This is the start of a wave of next generation solutions from Qwest.”
GE introduced its ASP offering nearly one year ago using traditional long distance telephone networks, and has since been contracted to provide radiology and cardiology ASP services to more than 50 healthcare sites in the U.S. GE’s ASP solution, supported by the latest in fiber optic and data storage technologies from Qwest, can significantly reduce hospital barriers to entering a digital environment by shifting the technology implementation, infrastructure and related obsolescence risks to GE and Qwest. GE plans to expand its ASP offerings to every clinical department in a hospital by 2003.
Through secure, high-speed fiber optic connectivity, electronic medical data can be transferred in real-time between sites in a large hospital network. This connectivity can significantly reduce the time associated with transferring paper and film-based records today, while lowering the investment for healthcare providers. Also beneficial, physicians can access data for collaborative analysis, enabling better patient care and higher standards of medicine.
“By implementing Qwest’s fiber optic infrastructure with our ASP delivery model, we can seamlessly move a patient’s cardiac images, for example, from a New York hospital to a cardiologist in Los Angeles in less than five seconds,” said Vishal Wanchoo, vice president, GE Medical Systems Information Technologies. “This unparalleled level of performance will fundamentally change clinical workflow by providing clinicians with a complete, real-time view of the patient they are treating.”
About Qwest Communications
Qwest Communications International Inc. is a leader in reliable, scalable and secure broadband data, voice and image communications for businesses and consumers. The Qwest Macro Capacity® Fiber Network, designed with the newest optical networking equipment for speed and efficiency, spans more than 113,000 miles globally. For more information, please visit the Qwest web site at www.qwest.com.
About GE Medical Systems Information Technologies
GE Medical Systems Information Technologies provides healthcare systems with advanced software and technologies to improve their clinical performance. The Company’s expertise spans the areas of cardiology, patient monitoring, image management, clinical communications, clinical information systems and Six Sigma-based management tools to enable a real-time, integrated electronic medical record. GE Medical Systems Information Technologies is a business of GE Medical Systems, an $8 billion global leader in medical imaging and technology. Additional information about GE Medical Systems can be found at gemedicalsystems.com.
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