GE Healthcare offers its own solution in the medical software market called Centricity. It is an integrated suite that covers both electronic medical records (EMR) and practice management (PM) to help practices get a better handle on clinical and financial management. It is especially good at integrating with lots of other systems in the healthcare community as well as a huge range of medical devices, imaging systems, and other GE Healthcare products.

The EHR module was designed around offering robust reporting concerning clinical outcomes, which is the key to any practice being able to properly benchmark its performance against peers. By using Centricity, practices will be much more prepared to participate in pay-for-performance healthcare opportunities. The system has gained ONC-ATCB 2011/2012 certification so practices can rest assured they will meet meaningful use criteria to qualify for federal stimulus funds. Its depth of functionality has also resulted in obtaining CCHIT certification. Centricity includes both a Clinical Messenger that facilitates communication with patients as well as other practices playing a role in their care and a robust interface engine that drives its integration with huge array of third-party systems for sharing lab reports, clinical notes, and billing data.

Pros

Here are some of the things users like most about Centricity:

• Some users are pleased with the basic EMR functionality in terms of accessing medical records remotely and its integration with other GE products.
• A few users seem to think the system is both flexible and customizable, but the many comments below would indicate otherwise, calling into question the validity of those positive reviews.

Cons

Here are the problems Centricity users noted about the system:

• Many users have noted that the EHR functionality is not efficient, intuitive, flexible, or customizable. And the company does not seem at all interested in making improvements, which is especially frustrating.
• Users have described the system as antiquated, poorly implemented, and difficult to use on a daily basis.
• The systems shortcomings in terms of efficiency and ease-of-use leave many users wondering how such a system can even be marketed in 2015.
• Users who have experienced significant hardware upgrades that have everything else running fast note that Centricity still runs very slowly in spite of these upgrades.
• Multiple windows cannot be opened. This is extremely basic functionality.
• The system’s home pages cannot be customized, at all.
• More basic functionality missing: Being able to adjust font sizes and real-time spell checking.
• Far too many checkboxes. And text boxes are too small and limited to 2,000 characters, which is ridiculous for patient notes.
• Several users note that the product simply hasn’t changed from its old days. No innovation whatsoever.
• The reporting has been described as horrible.

Apparently Centricity is one of the few systems that can handle large academic practices, but totally misses the mark for real-world modern practices. Most of its users are completely dissatisfied with nearly every aspect of its functionality, and also believe the company is simply not interested in making it better.