"Cincinnati Children's has been recognized nationally for its efforts to improve the quality and safety of care for children and families," said Dee Ellingwood, senior vice president, planning and business development at Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center. "We are pleased to be a part of this collaboration and look forward to working with others in Greater Cincinnati to demonstrably improve outcomes for children in our community."

GE has committed to providing $1 million of in-kind resources, including equipment, software and funding to assist with performance measurement, public reporting and payment reform to support the Greater Cincinnati Beacon Collaboration, as well as an executive leader to assist in the effort.

"GE is committed to working together with providers and community leaders to improve the health care system in Greater Cincinnati," said Bill Fitzgerald, vice president and general manager of Assembly, Test and Overhaul at GE Aviation. "A high quality, affordable, accessible health system will benefit our employees and the entire community."

The Greater Cincinnati Beacon Collaboration will also coordinate closely with other federal and community programs such as the Tri-State Regional Extension Center, HealthBridge's Nationwide Health Information Network projects and the Aligning Forces for Quality (AF4Q) initiative. HealthBridge received a $9.7 million Regional Extension Center award in February 2010. The Health Improvement Collaborative is a Robert Wood Johnson Foundation AF4Q grantee.

Today's federal award is part of the $2 billion effort to achieve widespread meaningful use of health IT in the United States and access to an electronic health record (EHR) for each person in the United States by 2014.

Source : Greater Cincinnati