Advocate Health Care and GE Healthcare Team Up to Reduce Radiation Dose
Advocate Health Care, the largest integrated health care system in the state of Illinois, and GE Healthcare, announced a joint effort to reduce radiation dose in Computed Tomography (CT). The goal is to optimize care for patients and reduce radiation without adversely impacting image quality. It’s one of the first announcements of the GE Blueprint for low dose, a comprehensive campaign in which GE Healthcare is working alongside leading U.S. health systems to reduce radiation dose in CT imaging.
Advocate’s radiation dose reduction program includes a plan to install the GE DoseWatch software on all its diagnostic and radiation therapy CT scanners. The technology allows for precise management of dose data. Advocate will also participate in the American College of Radiology (ACR) Dose Index Registry (DIR).
Advocate will also hold an annual radiation dose symposium designed to educate associates on the latest in CT technology, clinical protocols and best practices for radiation dose reduction. A CT Steering Committee will oversee and monitor the program’s effectiveness.
“Building upon our announcement last November to invest more than $800 million in the development of low-dose technologies over 15 years, GE Blueprint will help hospitals optimize imaging departments systemically and significantly,” said Steve Gray, vice president and general manager for Computed Tomography at GE Healthcare, in the press release.
GE Blueprint helps Advocate and other hospital systems assess their dose management programs and collaborates on recommendations for end-to-end dose management, including staff education, process improvements, equipment assessments and CT technologies that can enable low-dose, high-definition imaging.