GE Healthcare and Humber River Hospital launch first in North America Managed Equipment Service solution

 Managed Equipment Services approach expected to deliver approximately $25 million in savings over 15 years

MISSISSAUGA, ON, Nov. 30, 2015 /CNW/ - Humber River Hospital (HRH) and GE Healthcare are pleased to announce that the first Managed Equipment Service (MES) solution in North America has officially gone live. Under this 15 year agreement, GE Healthcare will manage the ongoing acquisition, installation and replacement for most of the medical technology for HRH and provide technology maintenance services for the life of the agreement in HRH's Diagnostic Imaging, Surgical, Cardiology and Emergency Departments. The initial procurement of $50M in equipment from 25 suppliers is now in operation at the new site, which opened on October 1 2015.

GE Healthcare's MES is a long-term, multi-vendor technology and service solution that is designed to provide hospitals with sustainable access to medical technology for a predictable fee. Benefits of the program include accountability and predictability through a well-defined and transparent operational process, regular performance reviews and project management.

"With this agreement HRH has the benefit of the latest equipment with a built-in refresh component, as well as ongoing maintenance and support, over a 15 year term," explains Heather Chalmers, General Manager of GE Healthcare Canada. "MES is a proven model in the UK, Germany, Spain and Australia; and we are delighted to see HRH be the first Canadian hospital at the forefront of this approach in North America. MES is a program that is ideally suited to the needs of the Canadian healthcare system because of the constraints hospitals face in terms of acquiring equipment for patient needs."

As she explains, when imaging technology requires replacement, typically hospitals are faced with significant cost outlays in an RFP process, followed by extended wait times for approvals. "MES includes a refresh plan for equipment as technology evolves. Not only does this alleviate the need to procure funding to acquire new equipment, it delivers operational and capital sustainability via risk transfer to the MES technology provider."

"This model is a more effective alternative to the traditional approach of capital management for technology acquisition. For HRH, it will deliver significant cost savings, while improving cash flow," says Barb Collins, COO at HRH, who estimates savings over the term of the contract could reach $25 million through improved expenditure planning. "MES offers a strategic approach to ensuring that the hospital has ongoing acquisition, replacement and maintenance of hospital technology across multiple programs. It will further enhance our high quality of care by offering continued access to the latest medical equipment at predictable costs. As North America's first fully digital hospital, HRH is renowned for its technology innovation; so it only makes sense to have an equipment and technology management model that is equally ground breaking."

"The MES agreement with HRH builds on a relationship that began with the vision of using GE Heatlthcare's proprietary, evidence-based analytics and models to enhance the work environment and optimize workflows within HRH's new state-of-the-art facility. Today, MES is just the first step in a technology collaboration between GE Healthcare and HRH to create one of North America's premier digital hospitals. It will leverage GE's capabilities in intelligent machines and data capture to help the hospital deliver even better outcomes for its patients, and community." says Chalmers. "We look forward to sharing a series of additional exciting milestones in this exciting collaboration early in 2016."

About Humber River Hospital
Humber River Hospital is one of Canada's largest acute care hospitals, serving a catchment area of more than 850,000 people in the northwest Greater Toronto Area. North America's first fully digital hospital, it is located at Keele Street and Highway 401 in northwest Toronto.

With a capacity of 656 acute inpatient beds, including 48 critical care beds, the hospital has 3,400 staff, approximately 600 physicians with privileges, and over 500 volunteers. The hospital has formal affiliations with the University of Toronto and Queen's University Medical Schools.

A number of Humber River's programs and services have been, and remain, recognized provincially, nationally and internationally. Learn more about Humber River Hospital online at www.hrh.ca or follow us on Twitter at @HRHospital.

About GE Healthcare
GE Healthcare provides transformational medical technologies and services to meet the demand for increased access, enhanced quality and more affordable healthcare around the world. GE (NYSE: GE) works on things that matter - great people and technologies taking on tough challenges. From medical imaging, software & IT, patient monitoring and diagnostics to drug discovery, biopharmaceutical manufacturing technologies and performance improvement solutions, GE Healthcare helps medical professionals deliver great healthcare to their patients.
Healthcare, visit our website at www.gehealthcare.com. For our latest news, please visit http://newsroom.gehealthcare.com

SOURCE GE Canada

MEDIA CONTACTS: GE Healthcare: Jane Wilcox, ABC, President, Xposure PR, [email protected], Office: 905-339-2209 ext. 1, Mobile: [phone]; Humber River Hospital: Gerard Power, Director, Public & Corporate Communications, Humber River Hospital, 1235 Wilson Avenue, Toronto ON M3M 0B2, 416-242-1000 ext. 81607, [email protected]