Oct 23, 2018
In a podcast recorded at the 2018 Cerner Health Conference in Kansas City, Michelle talks with Mitchell Clark, Senior Vice President at Cerner, a global leader in the health information technology space, and the President of Cerner CommunityWorks, the company’s cloud-based IT platform that provides an integrated digital patient record; and Jeff Tindle, CEO of Carroll County (Missouri) Memorial Hospital. Tindle details some of the challenges facing rural hospitals, such as recruiting physicians and technology experts, impact of dollar decisions, reimbursement issues, and addressing the value-based care that’s the norm today. By managing chronic conditions facing many seniors on a proactive basis, Tindle hopes to cut costs and improve patient health. The hospital has seen a 300 percent increase in annual wellness visits and a boost in the number of patients under their chronic care management program from four to 50 per month. The hospital’s partnership with Cerner has enabled the hospital to use technology to improve their population health strategy and engage their patients in general. Clark notes that Cerner provides tools, including patient engagement portals and care management programs to assist hospitals nationwide. Tindle says that the community trusts the hospital more today and has confidence in the proactive patient engagement efforts, reducing emergency department visits. He also notes that the use of the electronic medical record is non-negotiable when it comes to recruiting physicians. Clark predicts that telemedicine and virtual health will become more common in rural health care. This episode was sponsored by AASA, the School Superintendents Association, www.AASA.org