Two Large IDN's Standardize with Picis Emergency Department Information System; Virtua Health of New Jersey and Providence Health System choose Ibex PulseCheck

Business Wire, Feb 27, 2006

WAKEFIELD, Mass. -- Virtua Health of N.J. and Providence Health System of Oregon, two large multifacility healthcare systems, will deploy Picis Ibex PulseCheck(R) emergency department information system (EDIS) as a standard across each IDN. Providence Health System of Ore. will automate seven additional hospitals with Ibex PulseCheck, following the success of installations in Providence Alaska and Washington regions in 2004.

Virtua Health will install Ibex PulseCheck in five N.J. facilities, which collectively treat an estimated 150,000 ED patients per year. The organization plans to use PulseCheck's tracking module, physician and nursing documentation, risk management and charge by documentation as well as options, such as biometric authentication, signature capture and Broselow-Luten Color Coding Kids for pediatric safety.

Facilities include Virtua West Jersey Hospital-Berlin, Virtua West Jersey Hospital-Camden, Virtua Memorial Hospital Burlington County, Virtua West Jersey Hospital-Voorhees and Virtua West Jersey Hospital-Marlton.

Providence Health System's expansion brings the total number of Providence facilities deploying Ibex PulseCheck to 13 covering nearly 445,000 ED visits per year. Providence Oregon has already gone live with three sites and plans to streamline processes in four additional sites using automated patient tracking, reporting and documentation of more than 208,000 emergency patients per year.

The hospitals included in the agreement are: Providence St. Vincent Medical Center, Providence Portland Medical Center, Providence Milwaukie Hospital, Providence Medford Medical Center, Providence Newberg Hospital, Providence Hood River Medical Center and Providence Seaside Hospital.

"Large hospital networks need an ED automation system that can handle their large patient visit volumes, work across facilities within the network, integrate seamlessly with other computing systems and have deep functionality demanded by ED caregivers," said Todd Cozzens, president and chief executive officer of Picis. "This is why the largest hospital systems across the country are going with the Picis product - we're the only vendor that provides this no-compromise solution."

The implementation of Ibex PulseCheck at these additional Providence Oregon hospitals will complete phase two of the project. Once installed, all hospitals will use patient tracking and reporting, physician and nursing documentation (with risk management) facility and physician charge by documentation, prescription writer, scanning, biometric authentication and voice recognition. The software will also interface to the client's ADT system, CDR as well as laboratory, radiology and EKG clinical systems for order status and results reporting.

About Ibex PulseCheck

Picis provides Ibex PulseCheck, a complete emergency department information system, which includes a patient tracking system from triage to disposition, with easy-to-complete integration with other hospital information systems; Ibex PulseCheck's nursing and physician documentation modules provide an electronic medical record with instant access to charts. Ibex PulseCheck users have documented millions of dollars of additional charges captured with Ibex PulseCheck's charge management features, as well as reduced average patient wait time and length of stay. The risk management module provides real-time risk management prompting and supports physicians and nurses throughout the documentation process.

About Picis

Picis is the leading, worldwide provider of information systems that deliver proven best-in-cluster patient care transformation for the highest-acuity care areas of the hospital -- the emergency department, the operating room and the intensive care unit. The Picis corporate headquarters are located in Wakefield, Massachusetts and the company has major offices in Chicago and Barcelona, Spain. Picis' systems are installed in more than 900 medical centers and hospital networks worldwide, automating more surgical procedures, emergency visits and intensive care stays than any other system in the world. Picis has received numerous awards, including those from Microsoft, Ernst & Young, HCIT Research, Healthcare Informatics and Frost and Sullivan. Picis was recently named to both the Deloitte & Touche Fast 500 and the Inc. Magazine 500 lists (105th overall) of the fastest growing private companies in the U.S. More information is available at www.picis.com.