WAUKESHA, Wis. and BOSTON, Mass. – GE Medical Systems, a unit of General Electric Company (NYSE: GE) and Brigham and Women's Hospital introduced today an unrivaled "Evidence-Based Medicine System" that gives doctors instant access to critical information, once housed in disparate databases, to streamline the diagnostic imaging process. The need for the system is evidenced by a recent survey of over 1,000 Americans age 18 and older, conducted for GE Medical Systems, in which 67 percent said they thought that in general, patients always or sometimes undergo unnecessary medical imaging tests such as MRIs, CT and PET scans, to diagnose illness.*

Traditionally, physicians order imaging exams based largely on their own experience and an individual patient’s symptoms. The goal of the Evidence-Based Medicine System is to provide physicians with the unprecedented ability to compare a single patient’s symptoms with thousands of other relevant patient histories, additional pertinent medical literature and best practice guidelines to select the most appropriate diagnostic imaging test. Once the appropriate test is performed, physicians caring for the patient will be immediately notified on the availability of images and text reports, so important clinical decisions can be made in a timely fashion.

GE Medical Systems, Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Medicalis Corporation, a company that was formed to commercialize innovative evidence-based decision support solutions initially developed at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, collaborated on the system which is being rolled out in phases.

"The future of healthcare and clinical decision-making will rely heavily on the practice of evidence-based medicine, a notion supported by national organizations such as the Institute of Medicine," said Dr. Ramin Khorasani, Vice Chairman, Department of Radiology and Director, Center for Evidence-Based Imaging, Brigham and Women’s Hospital.

"Imaging technology is a critical tool, though recent data suggests that between 10-30 percent of imaging studies ordered for patients may be inappropriate, which could lead to increased costs, misdiagnosis and sub-optimal care," said Matthew Van Vranken, chief operating officer, BWH. "Evidence-Based Medicine solutions, including those involving imaging, are a significant step in helping doctors have the right information in real-time to determine the best tests for their patients."

As part of its ongoing commitment to improved patient care, GE, in collaboration with Medicalis and BWH, has led the integration of databases including imaging files, patient data, and other relevant medical information at the hospital – giving doctors the precise information they need from seemingly endless amounts of data. Brigham and Women’s Hospital alone generates nearly two terabytes of imaging data each month, which is stored and protected with highly reliable networked storage systems from EMC Corporation, the world leader in information storage. This is equivalent to one billion pages of single-spaced text. Laid end-to-end, those pages would encircle the earth four times.

"GE Medical Systems and Brigham and Women's Hospital believe the new system will enable physicians to function in a filmless and paperless environment, improve the efficiency and quality of care, and result in faster and more accurate diagnoses, while ultimately reducing medical errors," said Gary Gottlieb, MD, MBA, Chief Executive Officer, BWH.

Prior to the installation of the Evidence-Based Medicine System, doctors would either simply call in a request for an imaging test or, less frequently, consult a radiologist to determine what test to order. In a busy physician’s practice, it is generally impractical to search for and retrieve the best information about appropriate testing from the ever-growing volume of information, especially when a decision needs to be made quickly. As a result, doctors rarely have the opportunity to learn what tests have been effective for patients with similar symptoms, other than through consulting with colleagues with similar experience.

"GE continues to be the leader in generating innovative solutions to the technological challenges faced by hospitals," said Greg Lucier, President and CEO of GE Medical Systems Information Technologies. "Together with Brigham and Women's Hospital, we are helping to make clinicians more efficient by bringing together critical information that enhances patient care and creates a new standard in healthcare."

How an Evidence-Based Medicine System Works

Following is an example of how the BWH system will work when all phases are completed. A doctor sees a patient with certain symptoms, such as generalized abdominal pain. She enters the symptoms in a web-based application developed by Medicalis, using a desktop computer, or a wireless device such as a tablet PC. The system will analyze the symptoms and simultaneously compare them against many thousands of patient records with similar symptoms; relevant data published in medical literature, best practice guidelines, as well as crosscheck for potential problems such as contraindications. The system then offers the doctor a suggestion, such as: "Dr. Smith, the last 10,000 MRIs done for these symptoms were normal; you should consider a CT exam which, in patients with similar symptoms, has yielded positive results in 10 percent of cases." The physician then decides whether or not to follow that suggestion based on other information that she has at her fingertips. If she chooses to order that specific exam, she/or her supporting staff schedule the test electronically using a secured site on the Internet that protects patient confidentiality.

The patient undergoes the imaging test at Brigham and Women's Hospital. The digital images are provided to the radiologist and stored and protected with networked storage systems from EMC. Finally, the requesting physician is notified on her preferred device that the multimedia report (including the text and images) is available for review. The data from the imaging test is then added into the growing evidence-based database and stored for use with subsequent patients.

About Brigham and Women's Hospital

Brigham and Women’s Hospital (BWH) is a 721-bed nonprofit teaching affiliate of Harvard Medical School and a founding member of Partners HealthCare System, an integrated health care delivery network. Internationally recognized as a leading academic health care institution, BWH is committed to excellence in patient care, medical research, and the training and education of health care professionals. The hospital’s preeminence in all aspects of clinical care is coupled with its strength in medical research. A leading recipient of research grants from the National Institutes of Health, BWH conducts internationally acclaimed clinical, basic and epidemiological studies. The Center for Evidence-Based Imaging, launched in the fall of 2002 with a gift from EMC Corporation, allows world class scientists to use innovative information technology solutions to help improve quality of care by generating and delivering knowledge at the point of care.

About Medicalis

Medicalis Corporation focuses on Evidenced-Based Medicine and the enterprise-integration that inserts real-time decision support into clinical workflows, Providing Knowledge for Life ™. The company’s solutions strengthen the tie between the physicians who order diagnostic tests and therapies, and the hospitals and ancillary facilities that deliver them. Closing the clinical workflow loop of the ordering/scheduling/notification/results-distribution/follow-up cycle, Medicalis helps leading healthcare institutions to decrease unnecessary variability of care and reduce medical errors, while monitoring the improvement of resource utilization and the optimization of revenues and costs. Additional information about Medicalis Corporation can be found at www.medicaliscorp.com.

About EMC

EMC Corporation (NYSE: EMC) is the world leader in information storage systems, software, networks and services, providing automated networked storage solutions for organizations across the globe. Information about EMC’s products and services can be found at www.EMC.com.

About GE Medical Systems

GE Medical Systems is a $9 billion global leader in medical imaging, interventional procedures, healthcare services, and information technology. Its offerings include networking and productivity tools, clinical information systems, patient monitoring systems, surgery and vascular imaging, conventional and digital X-ray, computed tomography, electron beam tomography, magnetic resonance, ultrasound and bone mineral densitometry, positron emission tomography, nuclear medicine, and a comprehensive portfolio of clinical and business services. For more than 100 years, health care providers worldwide have relied on GE Medical Systems for high quality medical technology and productivity solutions. For more information, visit the GE Healthcare Web site at www.gehealthcare.com

* The study was conducted January 23-26, 2003 by Opinion Research Corporation among 1031 adults 18 and older and has a margin of error of plus or minus three percentage points.