In the fast-paced, high-risk emergency department (ED), every second counts and now more than ever, clinicians need technology solutions that interoperate with other sources of patient data, are easy to use, and help them to treat patients quickly and safely. Supporting these many needs, Picis announced availability of new functionality to ED PulseCheck®, part of the CareSuite® family of high-acuity solutions.
Developed based on direct feedback from Picis hospital customers, these new features and enhancements including additional InSight ED™ (clinical decision support) rules parameters, TouchPoint ED™ (interface management) alpha paging, the ability to lock patient charts and a patient admission request feature — further position ED PulseCheck as the most comprehensive and well-integrated emergency department information system (EDIS) in the industry.
Automating more than 28 million patient visits annually in more than 700 hospitals throughout North America, Picis ED solutions provide integrated clinical information and financial management tools for improving hospital operations and increasing patient satisfaction in the ED. In an effort to further broaden these capabilities and their performance, Picis worked closely with its customer base to develop new ED PulseCheck features that target the most frequently-used clinician tasks in the ED: order entry, medication services, charting and patient tracking. The new enhancements support customers’ growing needs, while also promoting healthcare information technology (HIT) best practices — a key focus for many hospitals in light of potential American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) reimbursements.
“More than ever, we are striving to keep up with increasing amounts of patient documentation — while also trying to bill care properly, adhere to industry regulations and remain financially viable,” said Matthew Witt, M.S., M.T., Senior Clinical Applications Analyst at Tuomey Regional Medical Center, a 266-bed facility that serves more than 40,000 ED patients each year. “The latest enhancements to Picis ED PulseCheck help our team to better juggle a variety of everyday tasks in the ED, maintaining hospital best practices and ultimately helping clinicians provide better care for patients.”The new ED PulseCheck functionality is designed not only to enhance customer satisfaction, but also to improve the overall adoption of technology by helping hospitals:
More than ever, we are striving to keep up with increasing amounts of patient documentation — while also trying to bill care properly, adhere to industry regulations and remain financially viable,” said Matthew Witt, M.S., M.T., Senior Clinical Applications Analyst at Tuomey Regional Medical Center, a 266-bed facility that serves more than 40,000 ED patients each year. “The latest enhancements to Picis ED PulseCheck help our team to better juggle a variety of everyday tasks in the ED, maintaining hospital best practices and ultimately helping clinicians provide better care for patients.”The new ED PulseCheck functionality is designed not only to enhance customer satisfaction, but also to improve the overall adoption of technology by helping hospitals:
* Create new automated “if/then” rules: Picis’ configurable clinical decision support tool, InSight ED, notifies clinicians via pager, email or the electronic tracking board when certain hospital-defined criteria are met. This feature now enables hospital staff to create automatic notifications that include length of stay, timers, as well as chart content, and documentation templates used.
* Integrate systems: The process of transitioning patients from the ED to the inpatient areas of the hospital requires a solid workflow and communication. The admission request page feature enhances this workflow, as well as system interoperability, by standardizing how ED PulseCheck integrates with an in-house bed management system.
* Respond quickly to IT issues: TouchPoint ED, Picis’ interface management tool, now offers an alpha paging feature that delivers prompt, automatic notification to an ED system administrator in the event an interface loses its connection. It also now includes support for outbound interfaces, including Outbound to EMR: HL7, PDF, Postscript, ASCII, TIF; Outbound Professional Billing; and Outbound Facility Billing.
* Minimize billing issues: The new lock charting feature enables clinicians to lock patients’ charts after a site-defined period of time, thereby addressing late changes to the patient chart that can lead to billing issues. This feature also flags “late” additions to patient charts so that they can be properly billed, and hospitals can get paid for the care they provide.
Given the potential for up to $19 billion of ARRA stimulus money for healthcare IT, and the prospect of a better payer mix under healthcare reform, many hospitals are starting to realize the importance of investing – or re-investing – in technology,” said Todd C. Cozzens, Chief Executive Officer and Vice-Chairman of Picis. “Moreover, because it accounts for up to 70 percent of hospital admissions, the ED continues to be a key focus. Today’s announcement underscores Picis’ ongoing commitment to not only improving the day-to-day lives of clinicians and caregivers, but also supporting hospitals’ efforts to improve clinical information in the ED.”Picis ED PulseCheck version 4.0 and 4.1 are among a small group of CCHIT Certified® ED Electronic Health Records (EHRs). When integrated seamlessly with Picis LYNX E/Point® point-of-care charge capture system, hospitals can also be more confident in facility charging and billing accuracy.
For more information on Picis ED PulseCheck, please visit http://www.picis.com/products/emergency-department/ED-pulsecheck/default.cfm.
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
