Secretary Mike Leavitt Spends Several Hours Touring Medical Center and Speaking with Clinicians and Patients

New York City, NY, (March 31, 2005) - US Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Mike Leavitt today met with doctors, nurses, healthcare technology innovators and patients at Montefiore Medical Center to see first hand how a system-wide engagement of advanced technology can help improve medical outcomes for patients while increasing staff efficiency and controlling healthcare costs.  Secretary Leavitt visited Montefiore because it is recognized as a national leader in its use and creative development of innovative technical support.  It was his only hospital stop in New York on Thursday.

The Secretary wanted to experience first hand what makes Montefiore stand out, by seeing innovative technology and how Montefiore uses it, and more importantly, by speaking with practitioners and patients for their points of view on one of the most important issues in healthcare today.  Montefiore has been able to increase the quality of care and at the same time reduce costs by increasing efficiencies.  Engaging technology to help provide first rate healthcare to tens of thousands of patients is the way medicine needs to move.

In addition to meetings with Montefiore staff and patients, Secretary Leavitt was given demonstrations of the medical center's state-of-the-art technologies including; Clinical Information Systems; Computerized Physician Order Entry Systems; Emergency Room Tracking and Medical Record Systems; and one-of-a-kind Clinical Looking Glass disease management program that allows physicians to track various diseases by population and neighborhood and is considered by many to be the future of preventative medicine.  Sixteen-year-old Cardinal Hayes High School sophomore, Cesar Souffont, demonstrated The Children's Hospital at Montefiore's bedside patient-interactive computer system that allows young patients and their parents to receive medical as well as other information.

"We are proud of the innovative medical technology we have developed to support Montefiore's integrated healthcare delivery system," said Spencer Foreman, MD, president. "The intensity of interest shown by Secretary Leavitt, the nation's top health official, clearly indicates that the development and deployment of sophisticated medical information systems is a top priority for this Administration and the way of the future for the healthcare system."

Montefiore Medical Center, the University Hospital and Academic Medical Center for the Albert Einstein College of Medicine, ranks among the top one percent of all US hospitals based on its investments in medical innovation and cutting-edge technology.

Montefiore invests more in order to enable compassionate, personalized care and the most positive outcomes for patients and their families in New York, the tri-state area and beyond.

Montefiore's unique combination of 'state-of-the-art' technology and 'state-of-the-heart' medical and nursing care in a teaching and research environment provides patients with access to world-class medical experts, the newest and most innovative treatments and the best medical center experience anywhere.

This 1,062 bed medical center includes the Henry and Lucy Moses Division, the Jack D. Weiler Hospital and The Children's Hospital at Montefiore, a large home healthcare agency and a 21-site medical group practice located throughout the Bronx and nearby Westchester.

Montefiore treats all major illnesses and has distinguished centers of excellence in cardiology and cardiac surgery, cancer care, tissue and organ transplantation, children's health, women's health, surgery and the surgical subspecialties.  Montefiore Medical Center focuses on providing family-centered healthcare in a nurturing environment that extends well beyond hospital and clinical walls.