Picis Extends Leadership in Veterans Affairs Medical Community with Contract Win for Anesthesia and ICU Solutions.

VA Healthcare System of Ohio selects Picis information solutions to integrate with VistA and help clinicians improve patient care

WAKEFIELD, Mass. -- Continuing to build momentum with U.S. Veterans Affairs hospitals, Picis announced today that it has been awarded two Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) contracts by the Veterans Integrated Service Network (VISN) 10, also known as the VA Healthcare System of Ohio. VISN 10 selected Picis Anesthesia Manager, PACU Manager and Critical Care Manager, part of the CareSuite([R]) family of high-acuity solutions, for its five VA medical centers to help clinicians better manage the clinical workflow and financial functions in anesthesia and post anesthesia care units (PACU)/recovery, as well as the intensive care unit (ICU) and remote ICU. Picis is scheduled to demonstrate Anesthesia Manager at the American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA) 2009 Annual Meeting in New Orleans, October 18-20 (booth #236).

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This is the third major VISN award contracted in 2009 for Picis critical care and perioperative solutions. Picis has now contracted with 27 VA medical centers in 10 regions across the country. Recently, the Great Lakes Health Care System (VISN 12) selected Critical Care Manager for its medical center ICUs, which see more than 30,000 admissions annually. Earlier this year, the New York/New Jersey VA Network (VISN 3) selected Picis CareSuite to automate anesthesia care record keeping across its five hospitals. In addition, VA Sierra Pacific Network has been using Critical Care Manager for years and in 2007 added Picis anesthesia, preoperative and PACU solutions to provide an integrated solution across the entire high-acuity continuum.

The VA Healthcare System of Ohio, one of 21 VISNs of the VA, provides comprehensive inpatient and outpatient health care to thousands of veterans in Ohio, Indiana, Kentucky and West Virginia. With the rapidly-growing number of surgical and ICU patients at its medical centers, VISN 10 sought a comprehensive anesthesia and critical care system that would provide clinicians with the point-of-care information they need to help them make well-informed treatment decisions and provide continuity of care. Following a rigorous evaluation of a range of industry solutions, the VA Healthcare System of Ohio selected Picis CareSuite for its proven experience with the VA, its integration with the Veterans Health Information Systems and Technology Architecture (VistA) enterprise information system, and its ability to provide a single clinical solution for anesthesia/PACU and the ICU.

"By using both our perioperative and critical care software, VISN 10 clinicians have the ability to collect, manage, display and store patient information from the moment a patient receives anesthesia through post-operation recovery and into the ICU," said Carlos Nunez, M.D., Chief Physician Executive at Picis. "This not only decreases repetitive documentation and improves staff communication, but also helps to further point-of-care decision making and -- most importantly -- to enable clinicians to focus on providing high-quality, compassionate care to U.S. veterans."

Picis Critical Care Manager features Insight Critical Care([TM]), a clinician-defined rules-based decision support system, as well as eView for Critical Care Manager([TM]). These tools are designed to help improve care management throughout the critical care continuum, eliminate data silos, reduce redundant documentation and facilitate clinicians' access to important clinical information. Similarly, Picis Anesthesia Manager automates the intraoperative and postoperative recovery anesthesia documentation, and Picis PACU Manager automates the patient's record postoperatively and in the recovery units. This technology enables nurses and physicians to better manage the complex and diverse data generated in these demanding care areas. Because all of these solutions run on a single database and a single comprehensive system, clinicians in the ICU have direct access to anesthesia information, and anesthesia providers caring for patients in the PACU and ICU are also able to check on their patients from the operating room (OR).

VISN 10's simultaneous award for Picis' anesthesia record keeping (ARK) and its ICU clinical information system (CIS) is the first of its kind in the VA medical community. The VA Healthcare System of Ohio medical centers implementing Picis technology as part of the contract award include:

* VA Medical Center Cincinnati;

* Chillicothe VA Medical Center;

* Dayton VA Medical Center;

* Louis Stokes Cleveland VA Medical Center;

* Chalmers P. Wylie VA Ambulatory Care Center in Columbus.

"As a health information technology (HIT) pioneer, the VA hospital system is often looked to as an industry model for technology use," said Todd Cozzens, Vice Chairman and CEO of Picis. "With today's focus on 'meaningful use,' hospitals increasingly are focused on demonstrating how their investments in HIT help clinicians improve the patient care experience. By implementing Picis solutions to automate the most cost- and resource-intensive areas of the hospital, the VA Healthcare System of Ohio is primed to not only increase ICU and OR efficiency, but also to improve its clinical documentation and financial results."

The formal public announcement of these awards can be found at: https://www.fbo.gov/index?s=opportunity&mode=form&id=d5d081583b0422cfabfc1b818de558b2&tab=core&_cview=0 and https://www.fbo.gov/index?s=opportunity&mode=form&id=b52c11062657fa18205dc068935d9f87&tab=core&_cview=0.

For more information on Picis CareSuite, please visit http://www.picis.com/products/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, Picis has licensed systems for use in more than 1,700 hospitals in 19 countries. More information is available at www.picis.com.

[c] 2009 Picis, Inc. All rights reserved. Picis, CareSuite, InSight Critical Care and eView for Critical Care Manager may be a trademark or registered trademark of Picis, Inc. in the United States and/or other countries. All other trademarks mentioned herein are the properties of their respective owners. This press release contains express or implied forward-looking statements relating to, among other things, Picis' expectations concerning the functionality and market acceptance of its products, and management's plans, objectives and strategies. These statements are neither promises nor guarantees, but are subject to a variety of risks and uncertainties, many of which are beyond Picis' control, which could cause actual results to differ materially from those contemplated in these forward-looking statements.