Jane,

> I'd like to find out who owns it, and how they got the info.

One disclaimer; this info may be a bit dated but you can try it
none the less.

PICAS is a product of DATAEDGE, Inc. whose place of business us at
501 Office Center Drive, Suite 290, Fort Washington, Pennsylvania
19034.  Phone 215-283-1000;  Fax 215-283-1011.  A chap by the name of
Harold Glass is the head honcho.

As to how they get their info:  Dataedge enter into a subscription
agreement with participating Pharmaceutical Companies. Companies
provide protocol information including procedures and payment
details to be entered, anonymously, into the database.  Subscribers
then have a pool of data to draw various statistics about the cost of
procedures under varying conditions.  Institutional overheads for
AHC's are included.  The data can be used by PC's to use as a
negotiating tool in trying to determine a 'fair' price for a
particular protocol.  A service providing institution may also want
to use the data/information to see how they are pricing their
services relative to the 'market'.  The database has been extended to
Europe and the UK in the last few years.  Hope this is of some help.

Cheers,

Bill