Cerner Unveils New Revenue Cycle Technology
The revenue cycle technology has undergone extensive testing and client feedback, Cerner said.
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By Sara Heath
- After much strife, health IT vendor Cerner has put new revenue cycle technology on the market.
Meanwhile, experts find Medicaid Expansion an effective tool against poor maternal health outcomes, while EDs turn to telehealth to address mental health cases.
Health IT Vendor Cerner Makes Rev Cycle Moves
After some ups and downs with its revenue cycle solutions, health IT vendor Cerner has unveiled Cerner RevElate™. The patient accounting offering is the latest within the company’s enterprise-wide technology suite that pulls from the “clinically driven capabilities of Cerner Millennium®” and “scalable, enterprise capabilities of Soarian® Patient Accounting software.”
“This is what we would consider the culmination of what's been a multi-year journey bringing together the best of the best of the platforms that exist today,” Brenna Quinn, senior vice president of Enterprise Market Solutions at Cerner, told RevCycleIntelligence. “We started with a real solid proving ground and what we've advanced is the ability to extend that platform and the common user experience to give our clients a great experience going forward and a new patient accounting offering for future clients.” READ MORE.
Medicaid Expansion Helps Maternal Health Outcomes
Policymakers may be able to improve maternal health and healthcare coverage around the time of pregnancy through Medicaid expansion, according to a recent Health Affairs report.
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The researchers used data from state surveys included in the Pregnancy Risk Assessment Monitoring System (PRAMS) phases 7 (2012–15) and 8 (2016–18). Ultimately, the study involved almost 55,000 pre-pregnancy mental health observations from 17 states and nearly 57,000 postpartum mental health observations from 18 states.
“Before adjustment, Medicaid expansion was associated with increases in prepregnancy and postpartum Medicaid insurance coverage, declines in prepregnancy self-reported depression, and increases in prepregnancy screening and postpartum well-being,” the report explained. READ MORE.
Kite’s CAR T-Cell Therapy Gets FDA Nod
FDA recently approved Kite’s chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapy, Tecartus, to treat adult patients with relapsed or refractory B-cell precursor acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL).
Median overall survival for patients living with ALL is nearly eight months with current standard-of-care treatments. And about half of patients with ALL will relapse Tecartus is the first and only CAR T-cell therapy approved for adults 18 years of age and older living with this disease.
“Today marks Kite’s fourth FDA-approved indication in cell therapy in under four years, demonstrating our commitment to advancing CAR T for patients across many different hematologic malignancies,” Christi Shaw, chief executive officer of Kite, said in the announcement. READ MORE.
Breast Cancer Detection Improves with AI
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Artificial intelligence can accurately sift through images, like MRIs, to speed up the detection of breast cancer, something that could improve outcomes, researchers have found.
The study particularly found good results for women with dense breast tissue.
“The DENSE trial showed that additional MRI screening for women with extremely dense breasts was beneficial,” study lead author Erik Verburg, MSc, said in a press release. “On the other hand, the DENSE trial confirmed that the vast majority of screened women do not have any suspicious findings on MRI.” READ MORE.
Telehealth Promising for ED Mental Healthcare
Emergency departments seeing higher occurrence of mental health cases, but find themselves without mental health specialists, are tapping telehealth to connect patients to care. At Cleveland Clinic Indian River, the technology is helping to close glaring gaps in care.
The tool has helped the hospital reduce turn-around times for psych consults from 24 hours to less than 40 minutes, while also ensuring that patients get the appropriate level of care.
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“We were seeing a lot of patients who probably could have been treated with a less restrictive model of care,” says Anne Posey, LMHC, NCC, assistant administrator of behavioral health for the hospital, located in Vero Beach in Florida. “And of course, behavioral health patients do not do well in an emergency department setting.” READ MORE.
Osteopathic Medical Colleges Commit to Health Equity in Education
The American Association of Colleges of Osteopathic Medicine (AACOM) and its member colleges have announced a commitment to address systemic health inequities and increase diversity, equity, and inclusion surrounding osteopathic medical education.
“This unanimity of our osteopathic medical education institutions paves the way for meaningful, lasting initiatives and efforts needed so urgently by all osteopathic students and the patients and communities they will go on to serve,” Barbara Ross-Lee, chair of the workgroup, stated in the press release.
“The COVID-19 pandemic has harshly illuminated the life-threatening injustices in our society, and we cannot afford to ignore them any longer.” READ MORE.
