Cerner is embarking on a journey of transformation. That transformation, if successful, will culminate in Cerner becoming more than a health IT company to becoming a health company. They’ve tested much of this strategy internally with onsite campus clinics, health and wellness challenges, the creation of rich consumer/patient engagement tools, heck, they have even created their own third party administrator (TPA) as Cerner is self-insured. The company wishes to take these lessons learned, these solutions that have been developed, to transform their company into a health company to address not only the patient experience in a clinical setting, but the patient/consumer health experience throughout the community.
This is all a part of Cerner’s Healthe Intent strategy, a strategy we received a deep dive in during our recent attendance to the Cerner User Conference in early October. Healthe Intent is a big, grand, bold vision in an industry where there seems to be a dearth of such visions. Whether or not Cerner is successful, Healthe Intent certainly has its fair share of challenges, rests more with Cerner than any other outside force.
In the October Monthly Update, which is exclusive to Chilmark Advisory Service (CAS) subscribers, we provided subscribers a deep dive into Cerner’s Healthe Intent strategy and what its implications are for both Cerner and more broadly, the healthcare industry. Each month, CAS subscribers receive an update of our latest research findings on some of the most transformative trends in healthcare IT. This is all part of the CAS service, a service that provides a continuous feed of research findings and access to our analysts keeping CAS subscribers abreast of the rapid-fire changes in this market. Below are abstracts of the other two research notes we published in the October Monthly Update.
With Readmission Penalties Looming, Can Care Get Coordinated?
CMS penalties for patient readmissions within 30 days of discharge went into effect October 1, posing a very real challenge that all hospitals must now address. Needless to say, better care coordination across various settings will be critical to cutting back on readmissions. Currently, patients are transferred from venue to venue with incomplete records, leaving providers to fill in the blanks in their care. Healthcare IT has long been promoted as a magic fix to this problem, but it will take more than technology to truly coordinate care, and different patient populations pose different technology needs. This is partially why our 2013 HIE Market Report will pay particular attention to what solutions vendors may be developing to ensure providers have complete patient data.
Clinical Analytics Gears Up for Second Wave
The second story continues to unwrap the analytics market. Though other sectors have used analytics to make business decisions for decades, all but the most innovative healthcare providers lagged behind under fee for service. With that reimbursement model on its way out, the second wave of healthcare providers are grappling to choose an analytics vendor, even as many work through the rocky early years of electronic health record adoption. These providers are in for a confusing procurement process, with a market awash in vendors claiming to offer a clinical analytics solutions. To say this market is getting heated is putting it mildly.
