Winona Health Implements Integrated Cerner Revenue Cycle Solutions Across Hospital and Clinics

Cerner News Release:

Winona Health Implements Integrated Cerner Revenue Cycle Solutions Across Hospital and Clinics

FEBRUARY 22, 2013

 Winona Health Implements Integrated Cerner Revenue Cycle Solutions Across Hospital and Clinics

KANSAS CITY, Mo. and WINONA, Minn. — Feb. 22, 2013 — Winona Health, a locally owned and operated health facility, and Cerner Corp. (Nasdaq: CERN) are moving the needle for the patient experience. With the implementation of Cerner’s full suite of revenue cycle solutions in July 2012, Winona Health is now able to offer a single patient statement for both clinic and hospital services, pre-register scheduled clinic visits, and generate all claims from the same patient accounting system.

“Winona Health partnered with Cerner on revenue cycle services because we know the complexities of today and tomorrow requires forward thinking technology and processes that support a seamless patient experience and the cash flow requirements of the organization”, says Mike Allen, chief financial officer at Winona Health. “We believe having revenue cycle integrated with our EHR and unified across our clinics and hospital provides the appropriate infrastructure to accomplish these goals, at the lowest possible cost.”

In 2010, Winona became one of Cerner’s first ITWorks and RevWorks Services clients, creating a tighter alignment that has allowed for rapid improvement and a clear path forward in achieving Winona’s and Cerner’s shared vision for the future of health care. Through this strategic alignment, Winona has seen some significant results:

• Achieved a net days all-time low of 41.37
• Increased POS collections by 22%
• Increased pre-registration rates from 23% to 66%
• Increased self-pay cash collections in 2012 by 9% or $700K
• Reduced statements mailed annually by 36,000

In 2011, Winona realized they needed an integrated revenue cycle system for acute and ambulatory services that would eliminate the need for interfaces and extracts and allow information to flow seamlessly across their entire health system, bridging the gap between clinical and financial information. Winona also needed a solution that would handle their diverse health care billing needs such as provider-based billing across their organization and that was flexible enough to manage the ever-changing world of health care regulations and reimbursement.

To achieve their goals, Winona implemented Cerner’s full revenue cycle suite of solutions in July 2012 across the entire health system, giving them a single billing platform for the hospital and clinics. The Cerner^®solutions use workflows and work lists that bring the work to the end-user, increasing efficiencies and their bottom line.

“Establishing a solid partnership between Winona Health and Cerner has led to a revenue cycle solution that focuses on the integration of the workflow across both the hospital and clinic settings”, says Rick Heise, vice president of Revenue Cycle at Cerner Corporation. “Using technology, we have removed duplication and rework for their staff while also improving cash flow in their organization.”

Additional successes include:

• Increased efficiency and flexibility in the areas of registration, coding and billing for services qualifying under Provider Based Billing (PBB) rules;
• Improved registration processes by more than 20% by eliminating dual Provider Based Billing encounters;
• Decreased clinic coding turnaround time by 25% (3 days post-visit versus 4 days); and
• Consolidation of 100% of hospital and clinic staff to the same patient accounting system.

About Cerner

Cerner is contributing to the systemic change of health and care delivery. For more than 30 years Cerner has been executing its vision to make health care safer and more efficient. We started with the foundation of digitizing paper processes and now offer the most comprehensive array of information software, professional services, medical device integration, remote hosting and employer health and wellness services. Cerner systems are used by everyone from individual consumers, to single-doctor practices, hospitals, employers and entire countries. Taking what we’ve learned over more than three decades, Cerner is building on the knowledge that is in the system to support evidence-based clinical decisions, prevent medical errors and empower patients in their care.

Cerner® solutions are licensed by approximately 10,000 facilities around the world, including more than 2,700 hospitals; 4,150 physician practices; 45,000 physicians; 550 ambulatory facilities, such as laboratories, ambulatory centers, behavioral health centers, cardiac facilities, radiology clinics and surgery centers; 800 home health facilities; 45 employer sites and 1,750 retail pharmacies.

Certain trademarks, service marks and logos (collectively, the “Marks”) set forth herein are owned by Cerner Corporation and/or its subsidiaries in the United States and certain other countries throughout the world. All other non-Cerner Marks are the property of their respective owners. Nasdaq: CERN. For more information about Cerner, please visit www.cerner.com, Twitter, Facebook and YouTube.

Cerner Media Contact: Megan Moriarty, (816) 888-2470, megan.moriarty@cerner.com

Cerner Investors Contact: Allan Kells, (816) 201-2445, akells@cerner.com  

About Winona Health

Winona Health is a nonprofit healthcare provider and a tax-exempt organization under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code. Winona Health has received HIMSS Level 6 designation is an eight-time recipient of the Most Wired Award and is part of the SE Minnesota Beacon Project awarded by the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology to facilitate the exchange of healthcare information across 11 counties connecting hospital, clinics, public health and other providers. . The organization was honored with the 2010 Minnesota Quality Award and awarded an A Hospital Safety Score  by the Leapfrog Group. Winona Health is governed by a board of community volunteers who adopts governance policies and practices to guide the organization’s fulfillment of its mission: to improve the health and well-being of the community and the patients it serves.

Winona Health has:

• More than 80 physicians and associate providers
• 13 specialties
• More than 1,200 employees
• More than 400 volunteers
• 99-bed hospital
• 134-bed nursing home
• 60-apartment assisted living community
• 20-apartment assisted living community for memory care

Winona Health Media Contact: Karen Sibenaller, (507) 457-4157, ksibenaller@winonahealth.org

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