Peripheral artery disease (PAD) affects nearly 20 million Americans. An estimated 200,000 receiving PAD-related amputations every year, according to the Cardiovascular Coalition (CVC). CarePICS is a partner in the fight against PAD. We’re here to provide critical patient data, technology support and streamlined communication in a secure platform. With our virtual hub, providers can improve patient outcomes — and reduce unnecessary amputations.
CarePICS Enhances Providers’ Abilities to Treat PAD
CarePICS is the first virtual care platform for managing PAD, critical limb ischemia (CLI) and wound care patients. Providers can use the vascular and wound care solution with their patients in the office or wherever the patient is via telehealth. This helps create a comprehensive healthcare strategy that helps prevent amputations by improving communication.
Primary care physicians (PCPs) can stay connected with patients via telehealth and with compliant text and images to help follow patient progress.
Podiatrists can collaborate with PCPs and other providers to help consolidate complex patient care coordination.
Vascular specialists can triage high-risk PAD and CLI patients, pre-referral or pre-procedure, track post-procedure wound-healing progress, and maintain ongoing relationships with both patients and the physician network.
Patients benefit because they can directly contact their provider. If their condition is acute, the vascular specialist can understand the patient problem before they see the patient so they can prioritize needed care.
Our mission is to be the connective tissue between providers caring for vascular patients and patients with wounds. CarePICS’ telehealth capabilities facilitate timely, comprehensive care for patients. They don’t have to make long, costly commutes or risk exposure to potential pathogens. And providers gain a powerful clinical coordination network that streamlines communication and automates next steps ― all within a HIPAA-compliant platform.
Providers find the CarePICS technology easy to adapt to and appreciate our secure, streamlined communication. With our mobile and web app, you get the patient data you need to more collaborate and more efficiently run your practice.
For More Information
Join CarePICS and the CardioVascular Coalition in recognizing PAD Awareness Month. Visit the CarePICS website for more information about the virtual hub. We’re here to partner with providers with a solution to better manage patients and improve clinical outcomes.
About CarePICS
CarePICS® is a HIPAA-compliant telehealth platform designed to manage vascular disease and wound care patients. CarePICS enables virtual consults, telehealth visits, clinical image reporting, and automated medical supply ordering.
The PULSE Amputation Prevention Center, a multidisciplinary limb salvage program based in El Paso, Texas, recently adopted a new critical wound care tool — CarePICS.
“PULSE is committed to preventing amputations and saving lives,” says Lorie Henderson, PULSE’s administrator and clinical director. “CarePICS was the missing puzzle piece we needed to complete our full circle of care.”
Henderson wants to spread the word about CarePICS. The vascular and wound care solution optimized the program’s ability to treat wound care patients.
Dedicated to Amputation Prevention
PULSE focuses on awareness, treatment, identification and intervention for critical limb ischemia (CLI), peripheral artery disease (PAD) and advanced wound patients. PULSE’s goal is to provide comprehensive evaluations and treatment of complex wounds and vascular intervention by a holistic team of experts.
Because the Amputation Prevention Center is housed in two separate buildings, the program especially needed a centralized hub to strengthen continuity of care.
PULSE learned about CarePICS through Cardiovascular Systems, Inc. (CSI), a medical device company that develops revascularization solutions for patients. As Henderson explains, “I realized almost immediately that this is huge. CarePICS is so much more than a wound care app.”
How CarePICS Streamlines Processes and Provides a Centralized Hub
CarePICS creates connections not just between the primary care physicians (PCPs) who refer patients to PULSE but between the Amputation Prevention Center’s vascular and wound care staff. The virtual care platform is especially valuable for Henderson, who is a CLI navigator — connecting all disciplines and guiding the patient journey through various levels of care.
“From our first interaction with a patient, we gain immediate access to electronic medical records (EMRs) provided by their PCPs,” says Henderson. “Our physicians can then capture and upload images consistently and accurately with minimal data entry. Specialists access the data in real-time without running back and forth between buildings. They can reach out to consultants for advice and second opinions. And they can report all of their documentation, findings and recommendations into a secure server.”
CarePICS breaks down bottlenecks and improves workflows, marking cases as urgent when needed and alerting colleagues to next steps such as referrals or surgery. The virtual care platform guides the entire high-tech care team through the patient healing process.
Evolving Technology and Collaboration to Fit Clinician Needs
CarePICS understands PULSE as a clinical and operational partner, working together as part of a pilot for the multidisciplinary model. “CarePICS is a perfect fit for our multi-modal care model that has proved so successful. They’ve been receptive and fluid supporting with us and the technology evolves to fit our needs,” says Henderson.
Henderson and her team started off with the general specs for CarePICS and provided feedback and insight. CarePICS was quick to respond with modifications and enhanced functionalities. Healthcare professionals can now quickly add patients, take and drop in images, and more.
PULSE hopes to develop a vascular component moving forward and incorporate perfusion imaging to identify at-risk tissue. “It’s fresh and exciting!” says Henderson. “We’re working on a practice model. We also hope to use CarePICS for more forms of medical imaging in general. We see many possibilities for utilizing CarePICS well into the future!”
For More Information
Change can invigorate a practice – and transition difficulties alleviated through strong partnerships. Visit the CarePICS website to find out how your healthcare organization can utilize a robust hub of coordination for wound care and vascular patients.
CarePICS® is a HIPAA-compliant telehealth platform designed to manage vascular disease and wound care patients. CarePICS enables virtual consults, telehealth visits, clinical image reporting, and automated medical supply ordering.
Cardiovascular Systems, Inc. Announces Investment and Acquisition Option Agreement with Telehealth Company, CarePICS, LLC
St. Paul, Minn. – April 8, 2021 – Cardiovascular Systems, Inc. (CSI®) (NASDAQ: CSII) announced today that it has completed a minority investment and entered into an acquisition option agreement with CarePICS, LLC (CarePICS), a telehealth company offering a virtual care platform designed to improve the outcomes of patients suffering from peripheral artery disease (PAD), critical limb ischemia (CLI) and lower extremity wounds.
PAD is a progressive disease affecting at least 18 million Americans. Left untreated and poorly managed, PAD can lead to severe pain, immobility, non-healing wounds and amputation. CarePICS is the first technology-enabled care management tool specifically designed for the treatment of patients with this disease. CarePICS allows a multidisciplinary group of physicians to communicate with each other and patients throughout the care continuum. As a result, they reach more patients in need, promptly intervene when appropriate and provide coordinated follow up care to improve patient outcomes.
Through a secure iOS, Android and Web platform, CarePICS uniquely empowers podiatrists, skilled nursing facilities, home health agencies, wound care providers and primary care physicians to capture patient information, wound images and measurements. Leveraging this information, they can accelerate patient access to care by rapidly acquiring input from interventionalists through specialty telehealth consults before arterial or venous wounds begin to deteriorate. The platform’s features can also be utilized by physicians after vascular treatment to coordinate, follow and support wound healing progress.
Paul E. Schubert, Chief Executive Officer of CarePICS, said, “CarePICS is the connective tissue between collaborating physicians and their patients. Our platform provides effective multidisciplinary case management before and after vascular treatment. It produces a clear wound healing outcomes data set for all physicians involved throughout a patient’s care.”
Scott R. Ward, Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer of CSI, said, “As the leader in the treatment and study of patients with PAD and CLI, we are excited to announce our investment in a digital SaaS product and data driven solution designed to improve patient outcomes. We believe that CarePICS will accelerate patient access to the appropriate treatment at the right time, resulting in improved care and reduced amputations. Over time, the outcome data being gathered through the CarePICS platform across various providers, patients, treatments and care plans can become an industry-leading source of actionable, clinical insights and further improve patient care”
Terms of CSI’s minority investment in CarePICS, LLC were not disclosed. CSI has an exclusive option to acquire the remaining equity in CarePICS.
About CarePICS
Based in Raleigh, NC, CarePICS is a telehealth startup company focused on developing and commercializing an integrated software solution for PAD, CLI and Wound Care. The company was founded by wound care and medical technology veterans, Paul Schubert and Terry Williams. The company’s Chief Medical Officer, Dr. George Adams, is an interventional cardiologist, and the company’s President, Dr. Chris Bromley, is a podiatrist. The company’s senior management team reflects the multidisciplinary clinical acumen required for achieving successful outcomes in wound care and amputation prevention and this domain expertise is reflected in CarePICS’s tailored telehealth products and features. For more information please contact at info@CarePICS.com or visit: www.CarePICS.com.
About Cardiovascular Systems, Inc.
Cardiovascular Systems, Inc., based in St. Paul, Minn., is a medical device company focused on developing and commercializing innovative solutions for treating vascular and coronary disease. The company’s orbital atherectomy system treats calcified and fibrotic plaque in arterial vessels throughout the leg and heart and addresses many of the limitations associated with existing surgical, catheter and pharmacological treatment alternatives. For additional information, please visit www.csi360.com and connect on Twitter @csi360.
About Peripheral Artery Disease (PAD)
As many as 18 million Americans, most over age 65, suffer from PAD, which is caused by the accumulation of plaque in peripheral arteries reducing blood flow. Symptoms include leg pain when walking or at rest. Left untreated, PAD can lead to severe pain, immobility, non-healing wounds and eventually limb amputation. With risk factors such as diabetes and obesity on the rise, the prevalence of PAD is growing at double-digit rates.
Millions of patients with PAD may benefit from treatment with orbital atherectomy utilizing the Stealth 360® and Diamondback 360® Peripheral Orbital Atherectomy Systems, minimally invasive catheter systems developed and manufactured by CSI. These systems use a diamond-coated crown, attached to an orbiting shaft, which sands away plaque while preserving healthy vessel tissue — a critical factor in preventing reoccurrences. Balloon angioplasty and stents have significant shortcomings in treating hard, calcified lesions. Stents are prone to fractures and high recurrence rates, and treatment of hard, calcified lesions often leads to vessel damage and suboptimal results.
Safe Harbor
Certain statements in this news release are forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 and are provided under the protection of the safe harbor for forward-looking statements provided by that Act. For example, statements in this press release regarding (i) the benefits of the CarePICS technology, including its potential to accelerate patient access and result in improved care and reduced amputations; and (ii) the potential acquisition of CarePICS by CSI, are forward-looking statements. These statements involve risks and uncertainties that could cause results to differ materially from those projected, including, but not limited to, the ability of CarePICS to grow its network; satisfaction of acquisition conditions; technical challenges; regulatory developments; the experience of physicians regarding the effectiveness and reliability of products sold by CSI; the reluctance of physicians, hospitals and other organizations to accept new products; the impact of competitive products and pricing; general economic conditions; and other factors detailed from time to time in CSI’s SEC reports, including its most recent annual report on Form 10-K and subsequent quarterly reports on Form 10-Q. CSI encourages you to consider all of these risks, uncertainties and other factors carefully in evaluating the forward-looking statements contained in this release. As a result of these matters, changes in facts, assumptions not being realized or other circumstances, CSI’s actual results may differ materially from the expected results discussed in the forward-looking statements contained in this release. The forward-looking statements made in this release are made only as of the date of this release, and CSI undertakes no obligation to update them to reflect subsequent events or circumstances.
CSI is a registered trademark of Cardiovascular Systems, Inc. All other trademarks cited herein are owned by their respective owners.
Contact:
Cardiovascular Systems, Inc. Jack Nielsen Vice President, Investor Relations & Corporate Communications (651) 202-4919 j.nielsen@csi360.com
