University of Pennsylvania Health System Signs Enterprise-Wide Contract With Picis.

SEATTLE--(BW HealthWire)--Jan. 26, 1998--Picis, a world leader in perioperative and critical care information solutions, announced today that the University of Pennsylvania Health System has entered into an enterprise-wide agreement with the company to automate its activities in all intensive care units, operating suites and non-operative anesthetizing locations, as well as pre- and post-operative sites.

In the first phase of the agreement, Picis will immediately automate the entire operating room suite including general, cardiothoracic and vascular surgery operating rooms as well as the cardiac surgery intensive care unit at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania (HUP) main facility in downtown Philadelphia. Other intensive care units, operating rooms, procedure rooms, pre-operative clinics and recovery rooms in both the main facility and other UPHS facilities will be phased in over the next several years. Picis will install its CareSuite 97(tm) product suite throughout the University of Pennsylvania Health System, including Chart+(tm), which automates the anesthetic record with patented technology that seamlessly integrates data from all medical devices and healthcare enterprise computing systems, Visual Care(tm), which automates the work flow of caregivers associated with direct patient care. IntelliNotes(tm), which automates and manages textual information at the point of care. and HospiAudit(tm), a managed care decision support tool for managing costs, outcomes and quality in the critical care and operating room environments.

"We chose Picis over the competition for three main reasons," commented G. Ward Keever, Chief Information Officer at UPHS. "First, the Picis CareSuite 97 solution is clearly the only product which can provide a common user interface and seamless continuum between all of our high acuity care areas. Secondly, Picis has succeeded in providing the most comprehensive suite of applications to meet all of our needs while at the same time being very intuitive and easy to learn. Thirdly, the Picis software architecture fits exactly into our institution's information systems vision; Windows NT, open database connectivity and the possibility to interface to our legacy information systems and future installations."

The Picis products are native, 32-bit applications running on Microsoft Windows NT(tm) operating system and are integrated with other Microsoft products including SQL Server(tm), Back Office and Internet Explorer(tm). Picis is a Microsoft Solution Developer.

"The University of Pennsylvania Hospitals is exactly the type of modern healthcare enterprise that can benefit most from Picis CareSuite 97 technology," said Leo Montejo, M.D., Picis Chief Technology Officer. "The quest to seek savings in the most cost-intensive areas of the hospital; the operating room and the ICU, is inevitable because of the demands imposed by managed care. The questions these institutions face now is: How will we deliver better or equal care with less resources? Picis CareSuite '97 is the solution that more and more IDN's are counting on to provide the answer."

UPHS is one of the largest and oldest healthcare systems in the United States. The UPHS hospitals are consistently ranked among the best hospitals in the U.S. in many specialty areas. UPHS owns the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, Presbyterian Medical Center, Pennsylvania Hospital, and Phoenixville Hospital. Affiliates of UPHS include St. Luke's Hospital and Health Network, Chestnut Hill Hospital, Holy Redeemer Hospital and Medical Center, Friends Hospital, and Chester County Hospital.

Picis is a world leader in the development, distribution and installation of critical care information systems which automate the point of care in every high acuity care area of the healthcare enterprise. The company, based in Seattle, has sales and technical support staff throughout the U.S. and Canada. For further information, visit the Picis web site at http://www.picis.com .

CONTACT: Robin Martell, 888/947 4247

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