Cerner is Advancing the Health Care Data Revolution

by Cerner Corporation

Published on 10/6/2020

For nearly half a century Cerner, a health care technology and data company, has been on the leading edge of advancing health care and delivering value to the industry. Even before personal computers and cordless phones were widely available, Cerner was working with health systems across the world to digitize workflows.

Easier. Intuitive. Connected. While these aspirations have remained top of mind and relevant since the beginning of the health care digitization journey, the manifestation of what these actually look like in a health environment has evolved.

Forty years ago, storing lab results in a digital format, instead of paper record, was a huge revolution. Today, real world data can not only help clinicians see a longitudinal patient record, it can help predict illnesses and offer individuals the opportunity to leverage personalized treatments. Clinicians can now use technology to enable data insights that diagnose life-threatening and preventable conditions like sepsis, before the infection is far too advanced or help veterans who may be at risk of suicide before a tragedy occurs.

A third of the way through 2020, the health care industry is closing in one of the most interesting years in health care in a century. COVID-19 has enhanced the urgency for robust health IT infrastructure and a need for more and easier access to data and speed of innovation – all to better understand viruses and control surge and spread across the world. It’s been said by some that these tough times have made it hard to think and plan for what’s ahead. This is exactly what Cerner has done for years, planning advancements in technology that’s needed for better patient care and more health system stability.

Cerner’s early successes of what data-enabled advanced technology can do are demonstrated; outcomes like these recent examples are expected to become the standard of Cerner’s vision of the future:

EASIER: Easing the burden of care

Fatigue and physician burnout are significant industry challenges that can be alleviated with technology, and one way to cut back on stress for providers and pharmacists is to reduce unnecessary alerts. Cerner helped longtime client Banner Health cut half a million alerts per month from its electronic health record.
As health systems evolve and expand in scope overtime, its operations can also increase in friction if not strategically considered and optimized. Within 90 days of implementing Cerner revenue cycle solutions, Shirley Ryan AbilityLab, a rehabilitation hospital in Chicago, saw a 10% drop in accounts receivable (A/R) days. Shirley Ryan works with the most severe, complex medical conditions to help adults and children through medicine and rehabilitation. All revenue collected via an efficient revenue cycle platform that can be put toward science-driven breakthrough matters.

INTUITIVE: Helping data work for clients

Early in the COVID-19 pandemic, the health care industry needed more data to learn about the virus, how to detect surges and prevent spread. In April, Cerner worked with Amazon Web Services (AWS) to offer more than 40 U.S. health systems and academic research centers complimentary access to critical de-identified COVID-19 patient data to help fight the pandemic. One client, Oklahoma State University Center for Health Systems Innovation, used Cerner’s COVID-19 data cohort to analyze thousands of digital health records to develop technology that predicts the risk of death for those with COVID-19.
Clinicians desperately desire a solution to spend more time patients and less time fulfilling federally mandated documentation. Cerner has been working to enable voice-assisted and command technology to complete a range of tasks that can save significant time and reduce administrative burden by replacing manual data documentation. Soon clinicians will use the phrase ‘Hey Cerner’ to search for and retrieve information from patient records, place medication orders and set up reminders.

CONNECTED: More usable and accessible data

New wearable consumer technology, such as the recently announced Amazon Halo, offers data points that are critical to comprehensive, whole-person health. Introducing this valuable data from Amazon Halo into the Cerner EHR, consumers and care teams alike can now have a more accurate and timely view of an individual’s health. This collaboration follows the Cerner and AWS announcement a year ago to accelerate health care innovation, enhance clinical experiences, increase efficiencies, lower operational burdens for health care and accelerate artificial intelligence and machine learning to advance better patient health outcomes.
Data needs to follow the patient for the most effective care, which is why Cerner has been dedicated to leading the advancement of information access and exchange in health care for more than 40 years. Cerner is proud to have brought live the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) and Department of Defense (DoD) joint health information exchange (HIE). With this expansion, DoD and VA providers will have access to more complete health record data from all connected community partners or health systems.

If each person generates 1,100 terabytes of behavioral, lifestyle, nutritional data in their lifetime¹ – enough to fill 1,100 ten-story libraries to max capacity²–rapid advancements in health care mean there is more information available to make more informed decisions. Technology is also advancing to leverage this vast amount of data to deliver personalized health care with applied and integrated data science. Cerner’s work has made data available for more discoverable insights that can help keep an individual – and entire populations – healthier.