New clients
LYNX implemented 53 additional hospitals in the first quarter of 2010, which represents a 60 percent increase compared with the first quarter of 2009. With these new hospitals come 1.5 million additional ED visits in our system with average net revenue per ED encounter of $42, representing $193 million in incremental revenue gained because of LYNX solutions. First quarter Picis LYNX E/Point^® installations include:

• Hospital Sisters Health System (HSHS) — HSHS, a multi-institutional health care system based in Springfield, Ill., has fully implemented E/Point in all 13 of its hospitals across Illinois and Wisconsin, recently going live at 10 sites.
• Catholic Health Initiatives (CHI) — CHI, a national faith-based health organization with headquarters in Denver, Colorado, went live with E/Point at six of its hospitals, and is currently implementing E/Point in an additional five hospitals.
• Indiana Regional Medical Center (IRMC) — Indiana Regional Medical of Indiana, Pennsylvania, recently implemented E/Point, and IRMC at Chestnut Ridge, an urgent care center, implemented Picis LYNX C/Point^®.
• Sisters of St. Francis Health Services — Sisters of St. Francis Health Services of Mishawaka, Indiana, a network of 12 hospitals across Indiana and Illinois, recently deployed E/Point at the newly-opened St. Elizabeth East Hospital in Lafayette, Indiana.
• Bon Secours Health System — Following the deployment of E/Point in October, 2009 at seven of its hospitals, Bon Secours, based in Marriottsville, Maryland, recently added E/Point to an eighth hospital in its network, Mary Immaculate Hospital.

To read the full press release, click here.
 

LYNX began offering complimentary compliance webinars to our clients in April. We plan to continue providing free webinars on compliance for our clients periodically through the year. 

In April, Candace Shaeffer, RN, MBA, RHIA, and LYNX Chief Compliance Officer, provided free webinars on the important area of Facility Level Coding for Critical Care. We had over 240 people attend these sessions!  If you were not able to attend this 60 minute session and would like a listen to a playback recording as well as receive a copy of the presentation, please contact Mark DiPaolo, Director of Client Services for LYNX at mark_dipaolo@picis.com, or call him at 425 201 7089 for more information.

Based upon survey feedback from the April sessions, we are pleased to announce the next webinar topic in this series: Capturing Charges for Infusions and Injections. There are few areas as challenging for coders as capturing the charges for infusions and injections. Initial service, concurrent infusions, two separate IV lines, administration of chemotherapy agents, hydration, and units billed can all present difficulties. Compounding this is the fact that this area is a likely focus for Recovery Audit Contractors (RACs). Thankfully, LYNX provides a compliant and consistent charge capture with the latest release of E/Point for emergency departments (EDs) and C/Point for hospital-owned clinics. We plan to hold these sessions in the month of July, with the dates to be announced later. Watch for an e-mail invitation in a few weeks from your LYNX client relationship manager.
 

Sentara Healthcare
We are pleased to showcase a case study on Sentara Healthcare concerning their use of E/Point with Epic. Sentara was the recipient of two important honors in 2010, receiving the HIMSS Analytics Stage 7 Award and from Modern Healthcare, they were ranked the number one integrated delivery network in the nation.
Learn more
 

Benchmark Analytics – a good thing just got better
As a LYNX client, you are probably familiar with our Benchmark Analytic Report (affectionately referred to as the BAR). The BAR is the most visible element of the LYNX Analytic Suite because it is published, presented and consumed more frequently than any other report.

In our quest to continually add value for our customers, a good thing is on its way to being much better. Over the past few months, LYNX has improved the readability, relevance and organization of every report in the LYNX Analytic Suite.

The visit-level distribution is still a key mainstay in the report. With the recent release of E/Point and C/Point version 6.2, we have enhanced the LYNX analytic reports with separate sections for emergency departments and outpatient clinics. In addition, the following metrics are now featured in the BAR:

• A summary of the Top 20 presenting problems for the reporting period.
• Quarter-to-quarter trending analysis of the Top 20 presenting problems.
• Inconsistent Stop-Time Documentation provides insight on infusions that are less than 15 minutes long and infusions that did not have a recorded stop time. With infusion services being a RAC focus area, this report is one of your first lines of defense for a RAC audit.
• E/M Documentation Consistency by Nurse is organized by the nurse who discharged or signed off on the patient’s documentation.  It is very helpful to identify training needs, compliance risks and missed revenue opportunities.
• User Charging Consistency reports is similar in nature to the E/M Documentation Consistency by Nurse. This report measures the consistency of E/Point and C/Point charging practices of non-clinical users.

Talk to your Customer Service Representative on how these enhancements can be included in your quarterly Benchmark Analytics Report.