GE Buy Targets Adverse Event Reporting

GE Healthcare has acquired the Medical Event Reporting System from Rockport, Mass.-based MERS International LLC for an undisclosed price.

MERS will become part of Waukesha, Wis.-based GE Healthcare's Patient Safety Organization unit created earlier this year. The Web-based system automates the collection, reporting and analysis of adverse patient incidents and near misses.

The International Center for Health Outcomes and Innovation Research at Columbia University invented MERS with support from the federal Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. GE Target providers for the technology include hospitals, physician offices, surgery centers and laboratories, among others.