GE Healthcare has announced it will
discontinue its Centricity Advance electronic health record (EHR) application
for small practices as of June 30.
Centricity
is GE's EHR platform used by both physician practices and hospitals. It
incorporates medical, pharmaceutical, financial and administrative data.
GE
will allow physician practices to upgrade to Centricity Practice Solution, the
company's flagship EHR and practice-management software.
After
June 30, doctors will be unable to post data in Centricity Advance but can
access information in read-only format until Dec. 31. With the end of
Centricity Advance near, GE has removed the Website for Advance and redirected
it to a page for Centricity Practice.
GE
decided to shut down Centricity Advance because Centricity Practice also
addresses the needs of small and midsize practices, Michael Friguletto, general
manager and vice president for clinical business solutions at GE Healthcare,
wrote in an email to eWEEK.
The
company formerly considered Centricity Practice as software primarily for
midsize and large practices.
Consolidating
its Centricity software into a joint EHR/practice-management product will allow
GE to update its health care offerings faster, said Friguletto.
"By
focusing our development resources, GE Healthcare will be able to invest more
heavily in developing features, which customers request," he said.
Centricity
Practice offers a more robust clinical workflow with additional content in
primary care, cardiology and orthopedics, said Friguletto. GE plans to add
clinical content in Centricity Practice focused on cardiology and orthopedics,
he noted.
"[Centricity
Practice] contains a comprehensive PM solution, including revenue cycle
management dashboards and tools that are fully integrated with the EMR, so
practices will have more control," said Friguletto.
Although
Centricity Practice is a licensed product, resellers will offer a remotely
hosted version, and GE will help customers migrate to the combined EHR and
practice-management platform. VARs will be able to provide the same remote
installation and service small practices received with Centricity Advance, said
Friguletto. Doctors can also use an onsite version of Centricity Practice.
GE
launched Centricity Advance on June 15, 2010, to allow small practices with
few IT personnel to access EHRs quickly through the cloud. It was designed to
provide quick implementation with little maintenance and a lower monthly fee.
In
March 2010, the company acquired MedPlexus, a maker of Web-based health IT
software for physician practices. Software from MedPlexus led to the development
of GE's Centricity Advance.
On
July 12, 2011, GE
introduced Centricity Practice 10, which features metrics that allow
doctors to keep track of their progress on reporting patients' conditions and
qualifying for the federal government's incentives on meaningful use of EHRs.
Centricity
Practice also supports use of the ICD-10 diagnosis code, which the Department
of Health and Human Services requires that all medical claims include beginning
Oct. 1, 2013.
In
addition, the software conforms to the American National Standards Institute
(ANSI) X12 5010 standard for electronic claims, which went into effect Jan. 1,
2012.
For
large practices, the company also offers Centricity EMR, which incorporates
revenue cycle management or practice-management systems. Meanwhile, Centricity
Enterprise is a platform for community hospitals, academic medical centers and
integrated delivery networks.
GE
launched
Centricity Research in March 2011 to boost the efficiency of clinical
studies, improve research billing compliance and enable doctors to form better
treatment plans.
The
company recently announced a
joint venture with Microsoft in health care, but Centricity will remain
with GE. The decision to fold Centricity Advance into Centricity Practice was
unrelated to joint-venture plans, said Friguletto.
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