Ingenix (Subsidiary of UnitedHealthGroup) Buys Picis Hospital Software Analytics Company – Algorithms of Healthcare Continue To Grow

Picis LYNX which is part of the solution is targeted revenue management software. The largest health insurance/health IT conglomeration keeps getting bigger. If you missed it this week, United also announced record profits once more. Picis has a portfolio of several products and the push is for documentation and saving money with efficient operations and provides linking information to EHR solutions as well as an ER software program.

UnitedHealth Group 2nd Quarter Profits for 2010 Rose 31% – Expects Revenues of 93 Billion for the Year

Part of the reason we are seeing many buy outs and acquisitions is due to the glut of software from independent companies that is out there today. Data technology combinations are what’s happening as we will probably even see more acquisitions of this type. One claim can have several software systems taking a chunk of the claim processing money going to feed several companies. When one claim feeds several companies with transactions taking their piece of the pie, cost goes up to support all of these HITECH transactions.

Venture Capital Investments Continue in Over Crowded Healthcare Transaction Software Companies – the Ones you Don’t See That Drive Up the Cost of What We Pay – Those Algorithms

Not only is private industry evaluating such data systems, so is the White House and the US CIO with already shelving one VA data project and companies such as Microsoft too are looking to find opportunities as well.

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Again this goes back to the glut of software out there competing to provide somewhat the same or similar services and it’s selling those cost saving algorithms.

Shrinking Federal Budgets May Be Opening Doors of Opportunity for Microsoft – US CIO Shelving Projects That are Not Working

How many algorithms can budgets support you might ask today? This is the huge profit area for companies making millions and billions on the stock exchange with mathematical intelligence software. Healthcare seems to be evolving to be one big algorithm today (grin). BD

Press Release:

EDEN PRAIRIE, Minn. & WAKEFIELD, Mass.--(EON: Enhanced Online News)--Ingenix, a leading health information technology and services company, today announced it has signed a definitive merger agreement to acquire Picis®, Inc., a leading provider of health information solutions for the high-acuity areas of hospitals. The transaction is subject to regulatory approval and other customary closing conditions and is expected to close in the third quarter.

“Ingenix and Picis share a commitment to improving health care and delivering results through the ‘health intelligence’ generated by information technology”

Ingenix is best known as a leader in health intelligence and analytics throughout the health care system. The combination with Picis significantly strengthens Ingenix’s position in the delivery system, where Ingenix serves nearly 6,000 hospitals in the U.S. with consulting, technology and outsourcing solutions. Picis will extend Ingenix’s capabilities into the high-acuity information systems market.

Picis is a market leader in providing enterprise software to the high-acuity areas of hospitals, which include the emergency department (ED), surgical suites (ORs and recovery rooms) and intensive care units (ICUs). Picis’ systems are currently installed in more than 1,800 medical centers, hospitals and integrated delivery networks (IDNs) in 19 countries throughout North America, Europe and Asia. The acquisition will enable Picis to build on its market-leading platform with additional resources, information and analytics expertise from Ingenix.

Picis’ information solutions combine clinical, financial and administrative data to facilitate information exchange among clinicians and hospital managers. This information allows clinicians to dramatically improve care quality, drive greater efficiency and foster the use of best practices for patients, providers and payers. Picis solutions reliably deliver meaningful and quantifiable results to its customers.

“Ingenix and Picis share a commitment to improving health care and delivering results through the ‘health intelligence’ generated by information technology,” said Todd Cozzens, chief executive officer and vice chairman of Picis. “For today’s hospitals, the automation, optimization and transformation of high-acuity care is critical to helping achieve compliance with meaningful use rules. Picis has the solutions that will help our clients drive even greater positive change for their patients, their businesses and health systems overall. We will accelerate this transformation together with Ingenix.”

“This marriage of ‘health intelligence’ and clinical workflow will provide substantial value to patients, physicians and hospitals,” said Andy Slavitt, chief executive officer of Ingenix. “Tremendous opportunities exist to use information and technology to modernize the high-acuity area, delivering better care and greater efficiency to these high-volume areas of the hospital, where resource consumption is often at its greatest. Working with Picis’ world-class senior leadership team and talented employees, we believe we can make meaningful change in this critical segment of health care.”

The high-acuity segment of the health information technology (HIT) market has been growing at nearly twice the rate of the overall HIT market over the past several years. Picis has experienced a compound annual growth rate in excess of 50 percent annually since 2001, and grew revenues during the downturn of 2009, even as other HIT vendors were experiencing revenue declines.

Growth in the high-acuity segment, and for Picis specifically, is expected to be further stimulated by the $46 billion Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act (HITECH) provisions of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA), and related U.S. government funding that is planned for the next five years. With the final meaningful use rules released by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services on July 13 designating the ED as a covered inpatient care area, Picis’ clients in this area will have new opportunities to recoup their investments in technology infrastructure.

Picis addresses the unique needs of high-acuity care providers through Picis CareSuite®, an integrated family of health care information automation solutions. This set of leading software and services generates a contiguous electronic high-acuity patient record by automating the collection of nursing and physician electronic documentation, as well as of patient vital signs and other data from a variety of medical devices and other sources. Through the ability to interoperate with other hospital systems, these high-acuity solutions seamlessly share data with other electronic health record (EHR) and electronic medical record (EMR) products to provide hospitals a complete, 360-degree view of patient care.

CareSuite also includes the Picis LYNX^TM targeted revenue management solutions, which automate key elements of the revenue cycle for high-acuity areas, including coding, charge capture and necessary revenue documentation support, which help reduce administrative errors and enable more accurate reimbursement to providers.

Ingenix will maintain Picis’ operations in Wakefield, Massachusetts, as well as its other offices and operations in the U.S. and Europe.

About Ingenix
Ingenix transforms organizations and improves health care through information and technology. Organizations rely on its innovative products, services and consulting to improve the delivery and operations of their business. More information about Ingenix can be obtained at www.ingenix.com.

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 high-acuity 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, Picis has licensed systems for use in more than 1,800 hospitals in 19 countries. For more information on Picis, please visit www.Picis.com/solutions or to join health care discussions, healthcare-exchange.com, Picis’ blog. Follow Picis on Twitter at http://twitter.com/PicisInc.