Return to LYNX Lines Table of Contents
Marketing Update
Picis and LYNX Join Forces
In August, Picis, the leading global provider of high-acuity care information systems, acquired LYNX Medical Systems, bringing together the excellence of LYNX’s revenue cycle management solutions with Picis’ market-leading clinical information management system for the ED.
Combined, we offer the first comprehensive end-to-end system to manage, automate and optimize both the clinical information and financial functions of hospital Emergency Departments.
The combined solution tackles top priority issues for healthcare — quality of care and financial management. Together, LYNX and Picis will track patients from initial contact through disposition, helping hospitals realize maximum revenue and reimbursement while clinicians provide optimum care.
This brings together two synergistic companies with specialized expertise and successful solutions that complement each other in the ED. Picis’ ED PulseCheck® automates the front-end clinical information documentation, markedly reducing patient wait times and increasing throughput while helping to improve charge capture and patient satisfaction. LYNX’s coding optimization software and services automate the back-end by aligning patient acuity and services delivered with accurate coding and billing, resulting in increased appropriate revenue , decreased accounts receivable days and minimized compliance risk.
We are looking forward to quickly bringing the benefits of our combined solution to the marketplace to further serve the more than 1,350 hospitals which make up our combined installed base.
Picis & LYNX Submit Comments on the Proposed OPPS Rule to CMS
Picis and LYNX joined in submitting comments on the proposed OPPS rule published in the Federal Register on August 2, 2007. LYNX and Picis also provided clients with a template response to the OPPS rule which they were able to customize and submit by the September 14, 2007 deadline.
The Picis-LYNX comments focused on hospital coding and payment for Emergency Department and clinic visits, including the issue of national guidelines for hospital coding of such visits, the proposed packaging of observation services, and other proposed changes affecting the hospital observation services.
The following are a few excerpts of the comments submitted:
Picis and LYNX support a redefinition/clarification of the Type A and Type B designations as currently outlined by CMS. CMS has chosen to define Type B ED servies to broadly include “fast track” or carbed out patients within or adjacent to the ED in areas that are open less than 24 hours/day. We believe that a common portal to the ED should allow all services provided to patients routed through such a common portal be considered Type A services. In our view, this would be more consistent with the level of resources used to address the needs of the patients presenting themselves to a hospital organized in this fashion.
LYNX Benchmark Analysis Reporting (BAR) Service
Payer compliance rules and coding guidelines remain dynamic and complex. And the fact that hospitals are adopting ED Information Systems or implementing enterprise Electronic Medical Records (EMR) within the ED only compounds this issue. In an effort to help you keep pace with this rapidly evolving healthcare landscape, LYNX is pleased to introduce a new reporting service to help you determine if the LYNX proprietary ED facility charging algorithm is appropriately applied on an ongoing basis.
The new LYNX Benchmark Analysis Reporting (BAR) supports the ED coding and compliance verification process. Moreover, it will help LYNX clients continue to get the most from our products and services, and provide added confidence in the event of a payer audit.
LYNX BAR is a statistical variance analysis of a client’s data compared to standard LYNX benchmarks. Our benchmarks are derived from significant national experience and data representing community and academic facilities—over 10 million ED encounters annually. Our analysis of your site considers site volume, acuity mix and resource intensity at your institution. LYNX BAR can reinforce that your facility coding and revenue capture are appropriately optimized.
The LYNX BAR service can become an important component of your facility’s compliance plan. The subscription service report is created and distributed annually for a nominal annual subscription fee. However, the first year’s BAR subscription is complimentary.
Additionally, LYNX Consulting is available to clients who determine further analytics and action are necessary to achieve alignment with national benchmarks for facility ED visit level distribution.
For details on how to subscribe to LYNX BAR, please contact your account executive at 800.767.5969 or email ClientCare@lynxmed.com.
The information contained herein is provided for informational and educational purposes only, and nothing contained herein should be construed as advice. All information contained herein is obtained by LYNX Medical Systems (LYNX) from sources believed by LYNX to be accurate and reliable. Because of the possibility of human and mechanical error as well as other factors, LYNX is not responsible for any errors or omissions. LYNX makes no representations and disclaims all expressed, implied, and statutory warranties of any kind to user and/or any third party including warranties as to accuracy, timeliness, completeness, merchantability or fitness for any particular purpose.