Business & Finance
Business and Finance
Business and Finance
Mon, June 21, 2010 Sg2; CaroMont Health : CaroMont Health to Collaborate With Sg2 and GE Healthcare for New Health Delivery Initiatives
GASTONIA, NC--(Marketwire - June 21, 2010) - CaroMont Health, Sg2 and GE Healthcare today announced plans to develop and launch several new health delivery initiatives. Difficult economic conditions and today's high cost of health care are challenging the purchasers, payers, and providers of health care to develop new, innovative, and value-based care delivery models.
CaroMont's first initiative will begin by the end of 2010 and will be a bundled payment pilot designed to provide quality care at competitive pricing, improve care coordination, and align hospitals and physicians on cost savings incentives. To ensure a value-based approach, CaroMont Health will partner with local employers and payers to institute cost-effective payments that cover both hospital and physician fees for a full episode of care. The current system of fee for service, fragmented care and complex billing will be replaced with a population-focused and transparent model. The pilot will cover a range of CaroMont Health's most recognized services, and outcomes will be regularly tracked to measure program success.
In order to successfully implement this pilot and future initiatives, CaroMont Health has teamed up with Sg2, a future-focused health care information company, and GE Healthcare Performance Solutions, GE's team focused on helping enable healthcare providers to deliver safer, more efficient patient care. Through reform-ready analytics, the Sg2 INSIGHT™ Clinical Performance Management System will track key metrics -- including potentially avoidable admissions and 30-day readmissions -- and identify specific areas of improvement to help CaroMont Health enhance clinical integration and physician alignment across the care continuum. GE Healthcare's team will then help implement these performance recommendations through process optimization, work flow and quality improvement. "This collaborative effort between CaroMont Health, GE and Sg2 will ultimately help CaroMont lead in developing innovative patient and community-focused care delivery models," said Mark Vachon, President and CEO of GE Healthcare Americas.
"We are passionate about expanding care delivery beyond the acute care center," said CaroMont Health President and CEO Valinda Rutledge. "This bundled payment pilot allows improved care coordination across the full continuum, which includes our community-based partners. Our vision is to be a nationally recognized leader and valued health care provider to the communities we serve, and we feel this is a step in the right direction."
"CaroMont Health understands the provider of the future must demonstrate value through the coordination of patient needs, clinical decisions, operations and logistics, along all inpatient and outpatient care sites," said Sg2 Chairman and CEO Michael Sachs. "With Sg2's analytics and GE's process optimization, this pilot will help CaroMont Health ensure effective use of resources, superior clinical outcomes, cost-effective care and, ultimately, a better patient experience."
About CaroMont Health
CaroMont Health in Gastonia, NC, is a regional, independent, not-for-profit health care system. It encompasses Gaston Memorial Hospital, with 435 beds; Courtland Terrace, a 96-bed skilled nursing facility; Gaston Hospice, which includes the 12-bed Robin Johnson House inpatient facility; and CaroMont Medical Group, a network of 44 primary and specialty physician offices. CaroMont Health's vision is to be a nationally recognized leader and valued partner in promoting individual health and vibrant communities. We are among Thomson Reuters 100 Top Hospital recipients and one of two HealthGrades Clinical Excellence award recipients in North Carolina.
The CaroMont Heart Center provides a full range of life-saving cardiac care services including open heart surgery. The CaroMont Cancer Center provides advanced 3-D radiation treatment planning and chemotherapy. An expansive, surgical suite offers the latest advancements such as stereotactic technology, a procedure using computer simulation, microscopic surgery and x-ray images for pinpoint accuracy. A Level III neonatal intensive care unit for high-risk infants and a pre-adolescent psychiatric center are among the latest services aimed at improving the health status of our community.
About Sg2
Sg2 is a health care information company that provides expert-led, future-focused systems for growth and clinical performance. Our advanced analytics feature health reform metrics, while a portfolio of business intelligence, education and publications deliver measurable value across the full continuum of health care services. Sg2 works with more than 1,000 hospitals and health care organizations in the US and around the globe. For more information, please visit [ www.sg2.com ].
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 health care leaders, striving to leverage the global policy change necessary to implement a successful shift to sustainable health care 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 and efficiency around the world. Headquartered in the United Kingdom, GE Healthcare is a $16 billion unit of General Electric Company (
