Press Release

Picis Introduces Solution for Driving More Accurate Charging for Infusions and Injections in Hospital Emergency Departments

LYNX E/Point and InSight ED Charge Rules simplify clinical workflow, optimize revenues and improve the business of the ED

March 3, 2009—Wakefield, MA—Picis today announced the availability of two solutions designed to dramatically improve workflow and hospital charging for intravenous (IV) infusion and injection services within the Emergency Department (ED). These costly patient services can account for up to 15 percent of hospital revenue for ED services, but are routinely lost or under-reported because ED clinicians often cannot meet the increasing demands of complex documentation and charging rules within their clinical workflow. As a result, reimbursable ED charges go unrecognized and hospital revenue is lost. Picis InSight ED™ Charge Rules and Picis LYNX E/Point^® simplify documentation of infusion and injection services for clinicians and automate charging of these costly medications behind the scenes, without adding to clinicians’ documentation demands. Picis is scheduled to demonstrate this new functionality at The Emergency Nurses Association (ENA) Leadership Conference in Reno, Nev., March 4-8 in booth #339.

Picis can improve the completeness and accuracy of charging for infusions and injections with these innovative solutions:

• LYNX E/Point now provides an easy-to-use Infusion and Injection Module that works behind the scenes to use clinically-relevant data entered by clinicians (such as start/stop time, type of service and medication) to calculate the appropriate CPT codes and charges. This simple feature allows clinical staff to spend more time on patient care and less time trying to capture complex codes. This drives increased accuracy of hospital reimbursements for these costly services, estimated at approximately $10 per ED patient visit. This is incremental to an increase of approximately $30 per ED visit already derived from E/Point, which prompts staff to record work performed and uses an acuity-based methodology to produce a consistent, compliant and accurate facility visit level charge. By capturing infusion and injection charges and streamlining the handling of patients in observation with E/Point’s core revenue management capability, hospitals can thus boost ED net reimbursement up to $40 per patient visit.
• InSight ED Charge Rules, an optional component of Picis’ ED PulseCheck^® emergency department information system, prompts clinicians to record more accurate and complete documentation to facilitate the proper coding and charging of infusion and injection services. While clinicians document patient care in ED PulseCheck, InSight ED Charge Rules follow the progress of this information, firing a reminder when there is missing information, such as total infusion time. These proactive rules help increase the accuracy and defensibility of documentation, while optimizing revenue through more complete clinical documentation.

“Picis is the only vendor to tackle both the clinical and financial challenges of infusions and injections in the ED in an integrated way. This replaces a time-consuming, inaccurate and manual process with automation driven by logic that supports proper documentation and revenue capture for these services,” says Mark D. Crockett, M.D., F.A.C.E.P., president of Picis Emergency Care Division. “Missed or under-reported charges for these medications can account for 15 percent of ED patient services so leaving them behind can have a huge negative impact a hospital’s financial health.”

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 with European operations in Barcelona and London, Picis has licensed systems for use in more than 1,700 hospitals in 19 countries. More information is available at www.picis.com.

About LYNX Medical Systems, Inc.
LYNX Medical Systems, Inc., a Picis company, delivers results in emergency care through industry leading revenue management solutions that promote financial health and compliance. LYNX software and services help health systems and hospitals improve Emergency Department (ED) clinical documentation, improve coding compliance, and promote accurate and consistent code assignment for appropriate reimbursement. LYNX clients maintain a consistent, documented and repeatable return on investment. Currently, LYNX serves more than 400 healthcare organizations, representing more than 21 million annual encounters.