LYNX Medical Systems Collaborates with Sentara Healthcare to Offer First Epic-to-E/Point Interoperability

Business Wire, June 15, 2009

Enables hospitals to easily integrate Epic Systems Corporation software with LYNX’s leading industry ED revenue management solution

BELLEVUE, Wash. -- LYNX Medical Systems, a Picis company, today announced that is has entered a strategic alliance with Sentara Healthcare to design and deliver a packaged integration solution between the Picis LYNX E/Point® emergency department (ED) revenue management solution and Epic Systems Corporation’s ED information system. This new, easily-deployable interface and related services enable Sentara Healthcare and other healthcare systems to preserve the financial gains derived from using the LYNX™ solution in the ED, while leveraging new or existing Epic hospital information systems (HIS) implemented across an enterprise.

Hospitals and healthcare systems nationwide are continuing to realize the importance of implementing technologies that are designed to overcome the specific challenges of the ED, including improving charge capture, clinical documentation and patient and information flow to other departments. LYNX E/Point, currently used by more than 500 EDs across the United States, optimizes revenue by promoting accurate charging and hospital reimbursements for all ED care provided. Because of the critical functions E/Point provides in enabling EDs — and the hospital at large — to remain profitable, many hospitals have made it a priority to integrate LYNX with their existing hospital-wide IT systems. This interface with Epic’s clinical information system in the ED is live in eight facilities throughout the Sentara Healthcare system and now commercially available through LYNX as a reseller of the technology. This agreement enables hospitals that use — or are planning to use — Epic software to now easily integrate E/Point in the ED.

“Rather than disrupt a system that was already working to our advantage, we decided to leverage our internal IT expertise and experienced staff to develop an entirely new interface that would enable us to optimize our use of Epic while maintaining the financial benefits of using LYNX E/Point,” said Bert Reese, CIO and senior vice president, Sentara Healthcare. “Working closely with the LYNX team, we developed code to enable the two IT systems to work together — with Epic providing clinical documentation capabilities and E/Point matching the charges to the right codes so our hospital receives the right reimbursement for the care we provide.”

In order to maintain critical consistencies in revenue, documentation, compliance, workflow and audit defense, as well as order and process management and nursing assessment, Sentara Healthcare developed an interface between its Epic system-wide EHR and LYNX E/Point, which had allowed Sentara to recoup millions in revenue over the past five years. Partnering with developers from LYNX, Sentara helped develop and test the interface in 2008 and then installed it in each of Sentara’s eight EDs, where it has successfully exchanged data between the clinical and revenue management systems.

“Many hospitals are faced with the challenge of improving charge capture and recouping revenue in the ED, while at the same time desiring a system that easily interoperates with their hospital-wide IT systems,” said Mike DeTolla, senior vice president of revenue management solutions, LYNX Medical Systems. “Sentara is a great example of a hospital that designed and built what it needed, rather than sacrificing functionality and financial results with an HIS change. We are thrilled the health system’s innovative IT team helped drive the creation of an Epic-to-E/Point interface that will allow other Epic customers to leverage E/Point technology in the ED.”

“The development of the Epic-to-E/Point interface is just another example of Sentara’s innovative approach to healthcare IT and our commitment to best-of-breed technologies that solve challenges at both the hospital and departmental level. By partnering with LYNX, healthcare systems can experience similar success by taking full advantage of the benefits that both technologies have to offer,” added Reese.

To learn more about LYNX E/Point, visit http://www.lynxmed.com/software/epoint.html or download a complementary trial online at http://www.lynxmed.com/software/epoint/free-online-trial.

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.