LYNX C/Point Solution Extends Accurate, Compliant Charging to Entire Outpatient Population

WAKEFIELD, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Picis today announced the immediate availability of Picis LYNX C/Point^®, a revenue management solution that mitigates the risk of payer and recovery audit contractors (RAC) penalties by providing consistent and compliant charging and revenue capture strategies for hospital-owned clinics and urgent care treatment centers. Together with Picis’ LYNX E/Point^®, C/Point enables healthcare organizations to calculate accurate and defensible facility visit levels for the entire outpatient population — meeting guidelines issued by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) and providing financial predictability of charges that reflect patient acuity. Picis is scheduled to demonstrate its LYNX^™ revenue management solutions at The Healthcare Financial Management Association’s 2009 Annual National Institute (ANI) in Seattle, Wash., June 14-17, in booth #211.

Because CMS guidelines on the Outpatient Prospective Payment System (OPPS) do not only apply to the emergency department (ED), Picis has developed a solution to better manage the entire outpatient care charging spectrum and to complement its market-leading offerings in the ED. This improves hospital alignment with these regulations within a facility, or across multiple facilities, while avoiding over- or undercharging for the services provided. Using an acuity-based methodology, Picis’ LYNX^™ revenue management solutions are designed to produce a consistent, compliant and accurate facility visit level charge for all services provided and resources used, which yields financial predictability and a secure audit defense.

LYNX revenue management solutions currently help more than 500 hospitals manage nearly one out of every five ED encounters in the United States annually. LYNX is the market share leader by a wide margin, helping more organizations charge for emergency and outpatient care than any other system.

“After our LYNX implementation, CMS audited the Evaluation and Management (E/M) levels at Sharon Hospital and pulled 40 records,” notes Steve Wylie, CFO of Essent Healthcare. “After we showed them what we were doing, they used the LYNX methodology to audit and validate our E/M levels and came up with the same results. The charts matched our coding. Our compliance officer certainly liked that 98 percent accuracy rate.”

At this year’s ANI Conference, several presenters will share their expertise and experience with LYNX solutions with other attendees, including the following:

• CHRISTUS Health — This large health system, consisting of 21 hospitals in eight U.S. states, CHRISTUS went live with LYNX E/Point and C/Point revenue management solutions between October 2008 and March 2009 to automate more than 2.1 million outpatient visits each year including more than 744,000 ED visits annually. Reggie Allen, R.N., BSN, system director of quality and clinical operations of CHRISTUS Health, implemented E/Point and C/Point to improve the consistency and accuracy of charging across EDs and clinics and to provide seamless interoperability with existing hospital information systems (HIS) in each CHRISTUS region. Allen will present the CHRISTUS implementation in the LYNX booth on Monday, June 15^h at 1:00 PM and 5:15 PM, and Tuesday, June 16 at 1:00 PM and 5:15 PM.

“LYNX has improved our documentation and coding process and has brought consistency within and among all our facilities,” said Allen. “We have improved revenue capture through the whole system, impacting more than just outpatients, and have achieved a net increase of $47 per outpatient ED visit in incremental revenue. This amounts to millions in net revenue in just 20 weeks.”

• Stevens Hospital — This 217-bed hospital in Washington went live with LYNX E/Point in 2009 to manage 42,000 ED visits per year, and interoperate with their Siemens HIS. Rick Canning, vice president and CFO of Stevens Hospital, will present how the solution balanced E/M levels, and will describe how it more accurately reflects the complexity of care provided to patients. Canning will present their story on Monday, June 15 at 12:00 PM and 4:15 PM and Tuesday, June 16 at 12:00 PM and 4:15 PM in the Picis booth.

“The LYNX solution provided a revenue increase of $1.5 million in net collections,” said Canning. “First, the methodology allows us to document care and provide charges, so we get credit for the services we provide. Second, we are compliant with CMS guidelines, and third, we are able to provide a number of educational sessions for staff on charge capture of the record and translate that into care levels for the ED.”

• Candace Shaeffer, R.N., M.B.A., R.H.I.A., chief compliance officer, LYNX Medical Systems, will describe how inconsistent charging for emergency care is a red flag for auditors and what hospitals can do to protect themselves. Shaeffer will highlight how Steve Wylie, CFO of Essent Healthcare, solved its compliance challenge with LYNX revenue management solutions. This session is scheduled to take place in the LYNX booth on Monday, June 15 at 12:30 PM and 4:45 PM, and Tuesday, June 16 at 12:30 PM and 4:45 PM.
• Jefferey Wajda, D.O., M.S., F.A.C.E.P., vice president of clinical support services, LYNX Medical Systems, is scheduled to present an educational session at ANI entitled “Using Effective Utilization Review and Care Management to Improve ED Reimbursement.” This session will outline the steps a hospital can take to mitigate losses associated with short stay admits from the ED and is scheduled for Tuesday, June 16 at 10:15- 11:15 AM. Dr. Wajda will also present key findings from a Health Management Academy benchmarking study on ED management in the LYNX booth on Monday, June 15 at 1:30 PM and Tuesday, June 16 at 1:30 PM.

Picis ED solutions automate more than 28 million patient visits annually in more than 700 hospitals throughout North America. For more information on the conference, or to request copies of these presentations, visit http://www.lynxmed.com/ANI

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 500 healthcare organizations, representing more than 21 million annual encounters.

© 2009 Picis, Inc. All rights reserved. Picis, the Picis logo, LYNX, E/Point and C/Point may be a trademark or registered trademark of Picis, Inc. in the United States and/or other countries. All other trademarks mentioned herein are the properties of their respective owners. This press release contains express or implied forward-looking statements relating to, among other things, Picis’ expectations concerning the functionality and market acceptance of its products, and management’s plans, objectives and strategies. These statements are neither promises nor guarantees, but are subject to a variety of risks and uncertainties, many of which are beyond Picis’ control, which could cause actual results to differ materially from those contemplated in these forward-looking statements.