WAKEFIELD, Mass. Picis announced today that it has continued to expand its market share with the recent addition of several new agreements with North American health systems for Picis’ integrated clinical and financial emergency department (ED) solution. An average hospital can lose $30 or more per patient in the ED from incomplete or inaccurate documentation, coding and charging for patient care provided. Recently, Exempla Health System of Denver, Colo., Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital of Hamilton, N.J. and 16 other prestigious medical centers throughout North America have acknowledged the ED’s impact on their performance and selected Picis’ integrated clinical and financial ED solutions to prioritize the ED service line. Twelve hospitals have gone live this year alone and an additional six medical centers are scheduled to go live with ED PulseCheck^®, part of the CareSuite^® family of high-acuity solutions, integrated with Picis LYNX E/Point^® point-of-care revenue capture system in the next month.

Demand for Picis’ market-leading ED solutions is strong among hospitals looking to leverage this quick time-to-value health information technology (HIT) to reduce lost revenue, optimize the efficiency of treating patients and prepare for Recovery Audit Contractor (RAC) audits. Studies show that hospitals and health systems utilizing these approaches demonstrate a positive impact on both quality and financial performance of the entire healthcare organization. The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) provides further incentives for hospitals to adopt Picis’ proven high-acuity care solutions to overcome the challenges facing today’s healthcare systems.

“We really believe that information technology used appropriately is the way to hardwire best practice workflow and integrate evidence-based medicine protocols into workflow,” said Dave Pecoraro, chief information officer, Exempla Health System. “I believe our investment is going to pay off well in that achieving meaningful use — under the early published rules — should be within our reach.”

2009 Customer Highlights to Date

• Customer Go-Lives with Integrated Clinical and Financial ED Solutions — Thus far in 2009, a number of health systems have gone live with ED PulseCheck and LYNX E/Point solutions, expanding or converting their existing Picis solutions to make accurate charge capture of ED services a natural byproduct of clinical documentation within ED PulseCheck. These include: Bixby Medical Center and Herrick Medical Center, members of the ProMedica Health System in Mich.; Catholic Medical Center in N.H.; Decatur Memorial Hospital in Ill.; Exempla Lutheran Medical Center and Exempla Saint Joseph Hospital in Colo.; Hunterdon Healthcare in N.J.; Providence St. Peter Hospital in Wash.; Riverside Regional Medical Center in Va.; Robert Wood Johnson in N.J.; and Tuomey Regional Medical Center in S.C., all long-time Picis customers.

According to Matthew E. Witt, project manager, Tuomey Regional Medical Center, “Things are wonderful! The staff has been in much better compliance now with the assessments and we have seen a remarkable and immediate improvement in our facility level distribution. They could not be happier!”

• University of Colorado Hospital, the first customer to launch Picis’ integrated ED PulseCheck and LYNX revenue management solutions, went live in 2008 and quickly reported a $62 per patient increase in billable revenue in the ED by leveraging improved quality of clinical documentation with increased charging and coding efficiency, more accurate reimbursement and improved consistency with electronic billing.
• Implementations Underway — St. Rose Hospital in Calif.; St. Francis Medical Center in Mo.; and Palisades Medical Center in N.J. have already gone live with LYNX E/Point charge capture as part of their ED implementation, and are currently implementing ED PulseCheck for end-to-end ED management.
• Recent E/Point signings with ED PulseCheck — Several medical centers have recently contracted with Picis to install the integrated ED solution. These include: Sentara Obici Hospital in Va.; Union Hospital in Ind.; and Hoboken University Medical Center in N.J.

Picis ED solutions automate more than 28 million patient visits annually in more than 700 hospitals throughout North America. Picis ED PulseCheck version 4.0 is a CCHIT 08 certified ED Electronic Health Record (EHR).

“Hospitals can enhance quality and provide more efficient care by implementing technologies such as Picis ED solutions that tie together clinical and financial efficiency,” said Todd C. Cozzens, chief executive officer and vice-chairman, Picis. “The growing number of hospitals that continue to partner with Picis and expand their use of our systems shows their confidence in our delivering rapid results in these difficult-to-automate care areas.”

About Picis
Picis is a global provider of innovative information solutions that enable rapid and sustained delivery of clinical, financial and operational results in the acute care areas of the hospital. These high-acuity areas include the emergency department, operating and recovery rooms, and intensive care units. Picis offers the most advanced suite of integrated products focused on these life-critical areas of the hospital where the patients are the most vulnerable, the care process is the most complex and an increasing majority of hospital costs and potential revenue are concentrated. Headquartered in Wakefield, Massachusetts, Picis has licensed systems for use in more than 1,700 hospitals in 19 countries. More information is available at www.picis.com.