53 Additional Hospitals Deploy LYNX Revenue Management Solutions in First Quarter

Growing demand for E/Point to improve documentation, compliance and charging accuracy for hospital emergency department outpatient services

WAKEFIELD, Mass. — Picis announced today that it has continued to expand its market share with the addition of 53 U.S. healthcare facilities to its base of clients utilizing Picis’ LYNX E/Point^® point-of-care revenue management solution for the emergency department (ED). This represents a 60 percent increase in E/Point installations over the first quarter of 2009, and an additional 1.5 million annual hospital ED patient visits automated with the system. During the past four quarters, 142 healthcare facilities, representing 4.6 million ED visits annually, have selected E/Point. Based on results from these E/Point customers, E/Point helped increase their average revenue per ED encounter by $42, representing an estimated $193 million in incremental revenue gained by implementing LYNX solutions.

E/Point’s easy-to-use software-as-a-service (SaaS) solution enables hospitals to more accurately capture procedure charges and calculate facility visit-levels automatically as part of their clinical documentation process so that the hospitals can be properly reimbursed for the services they provide. The result is consistent and defensible visit-level scoring, which preserves the hospitals’ revenue and promotes their compliance. This is important at a time when hospitals are being squeezed between increased operating costs and increased scrutiny of reimbursements in a tight economy. More health systems are employing this technology to standardize data and processes across multiple facilities, while optimizing revenue streams.

“The E/Point implementation was one of the best supported IT installations our Health System has experienced,” says Richard Walbert, Vice President of Finance, Hospital Sisters Health System. “The LYNX implementation team received high acclaim from the HSHS Information Services staff for their technical expertise. Their team was exceptionally knowledgeable about the E/Point product and worked well with our coding, clinical and information services staff in integrating their application into our processes and systems. The work plan to implement our 13 hospitals in a demanding timeline was well executed and is exceeding expectations. The combination of application and information technology expertise was a winning one.”

Highlighted First Quarter Customer E/Point Installations Include:

• Texas Health Resources (THR) — THR, one of the largest faith-based, nonprofit healthcare delivery systems in the United States, recently went live at seven sites with LYNX E/Point and its Epic-to-E/Point connection, which leverages E/Point’s ED charge capture methodology with information entered in Epic Corporation’s Software.
• Hospital Sisters Health System (HSHS) — HSHS, a multi-institutional health care system based in Springfield, Ill., has fully implemented E/Point in all 13 of its hospitals across Ill. and Wis, recently going live at 10 sites.
• Catholic Health Initiatives (CHI) — CHI, a national faith-based health organization with headquarters in Denver, Colo. went live with E/Point at six of its hospitals, and is currently implementing E/Point in an additional five hospitals.
• Indiana Regional Medical Center (IRMC) — Indiana Regional Medical of Indiana, Pa., recently implemented E/Point, and IRMC at Chestnut Ridge, an urgent care center, implemented Picis LYNX C/Point^®. C/Point is a complementary solution that enables infusion services and procedure charge capture for hospital-owned clinics, including support for administration of chemotherapy agents.
• Sisters of St. Francis Health Services — Sisters of St. Francis Health Services of Mishawaka, Ind., a network of 12 hospitals across Indiana and Illinois, recently deployed E/Point at the newly-opened St. Elizabeth East Hospital in Lafayette, Ind.
• Bon Secours Health System —Following the deployment of E/Point in October, 2009 at seven of its hospitals, Bon Secours, based in Marriottsville, Md., recently added E/Point to an eighth hospital in its network, Mary Immaculate Hospital.

Demand for market-leading Picis ED solutions is strongest among hospitals striving to leverage this quick time-to-value health information technology (HIT) to reduce revenue loss, optimize efficiency and prepare for Recovery Audit Contractor (RAC) audits. E/Point uses a charging methodology that has demonstrated that it can increase revenue per patient and is defensible in the event of an audit.

The 11 Outpatient Perspective Payment System (OPPS) guidelines issued by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) govern facility visit level charging. LYNX Medical Systems, a Picis company, conducted rigorous analyses of its widespread customer base of more than 700 hospitals, helping users assess risk and opportunity with up to 95 percent accuracy. LYNX’s companion product, C/Point, broadly incorporates OPPS charging guidelines for the complete set of hospital-owned clinics including Oncology, providing users with both consistent and compliant charging.

E/Point integrates with Picis ED PulseCheck™, the only high-performance emergency department information system (EDIS). This enables emergency departments and hospital leadership to fully realize the potential of information technology in the ED, by closely tying clinical documentation in ED PulseCheck with E/Point’s coding and charging for ED services. This positions hospitals to optimize the quality, clinical, operational and financial potential of the services they provide. In addition, E/Point exchanges information with other major clinical information systems in the healthcare industry. An industry-leading solution, E/Point has achieved the Healthcare Financial Management Association’s (HFMA) prestigious Peer Review designation following an independent board review and thorough 11-step evaluation process. For more information on E/Point, part of the CareSuite family of high-acuity solutions, visit http://www.lynxmed.com/software/epoint.html.

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 1,800 hospitals in 19 countries. For more information on Picis, please visit www.picis.com/solutions or to join a discussion on how cost containment and RAC impact emergency physicians or other issues, visit healthcare-exchange.com, Picis’ new blog. Follow Picis on Twitter at http://twitter.com/PicisInc.