GE launches new release of healthcare revenue cycle management solution

GE Healthcare, a leading provider of healthcare information technology, today launched Centricity Business 5.0, the next-generation revenue cycle management solution for hospital networks, academic medical centers, large practices and physician billing groups. As healthcare organizations continue to face surging costs combined with the challenges of ICD-10 and healthcare reform, Centricity Business 5.0 helps enterprises achieve greater profitability and efficiency by streamlining administrative tasks from front desk to billing office, and accelerating revenue collection from payers to providers.

"Healthcare providers need to find new ways of managing the process and payment of patient care," said Nancy Fabozzi, Senior Industry Analyst, Healthcare, Frost & Sullivan. "With continued financial pressures, industry shift to ICD-10, and emerging healthcare reform driving lower reimbursement levels, revenue cycle management solutions continue to be a critical investment for hospitals, physician practices, and integrated delivery networks. In preparing for transformational health system change, providers will increasingly seek vendor partners who offer robust and flexible revenue cycle management solutions that are versatile and deliver proven metrics such as lower A/R days and high collection rates in order to drive efficiency and profitability."

Announced today at the Centricity Business National Users' Conference in Boston, Centricity Business 5.0 is a new release that builds upon the solution's core foundation of best metrics, versatility, and interoperability. Used by hundreds of leading healthcare organizations - including 75% of those in the July 18, 2011 US News & World Report "2011-12 Best Hospitals Honor Roll" (http://health.usnews.com/health-news/best-hospitals/articles/2011/07/18/best-hospitals-2011-12-the-honor-roll) - Centricity Business meets emerging industry needs with a highly flexible architecture, can help improve margins by lowering A/R days, and can help enhance patient care by seamlessly connecting with any EMR.

"The versatility of Centricity Business allows us to drive real-time clinical and financial interoperability between Centricity Business and our EMR system for a seamless patient experience," said Chuck Podesta, Chief Information Officer, Fletcher Allen Health Care. "Centricity Business supports our hospital system's revenue cycle automation strategy with low touch billing capabilities, and is a key part of our readiness for the ICD-10 transition. GE Healthcare has put a lot of resources into enhancing Centricity Business, and we're looking forward to implementing the latest version."

Armed with 221 new features, Centricity 5.0 supports customers in five key areas:

• Low touch billing - Improves ability to meet risks of growing self-pay patient population by reducing human touch across the patient access and revenue cycle processes
• Clinical connectivity - Drives real-time clinical and financial interoperability through tighter, closed-loop connectivity between Centricity Business and any EMR
• Regulatory compliance - Provides organizations with native ICD-10 support two years ahead of the US Department of Health and Human Services' compliance date of October 1, 2013
• Better patient access - Streamlines enterprise-wide patient scheduling
• Lower total cost of ownership - Reduces cost to implement, support, and maintain Centricity Business through virtualization

"Healthcare customers are struggling to deploy infrastructures that have the interoperability and flexibility they need without dramatically increasing the complexity of the environment," said Hugh A. Rivers, Sr. Director, US Solution and Partner Sales, Health and Life Sciences, HP. "Using GE's Centricity Business 5.0 with HP Converged Infrastructure, customers can address these needs through enhanced interoperability between any EMR system and Centricity Business's open standards-based architecture."

"Centricity Business 5.0 is extraordinarily versatile, building on 40 years of proven revenue cycle management experience which enables our customers to stay well ahead of emerging healthcare reform needs," said Michael Nolte, General Manager of GE Healthcare IT. "With technology that seamlessly connects clinical and financial information, supports the needs of ICD-10, and delivers top cash performance, Centricity Business 5.0 allows organizations to maximize their IT investment, support profitability, and dramatically shorten the appointment to payment cycle."

Source: GE Healthcare