Roughly one in every six Americans (or approximately 51 million people) live in rural areas and depend upon the hospital in their community. However, rural hospitals face more and more closures with more than 120 rural hospitals shutting their doors since 2005. And when a hospital closes in a rural community, the impact reaches far beyond the increasingly limited options for health care that population faces. The National Rural Health Association (NRHA) is dedicated to fighting for a better future in rural America by providing leadership on rural health issues through advocacy, communications, education and research. In this episode of The Cerner Podcast, we’re joined by Alan Morgan, NRHA chief executive officer. Alan discusses the challenges that rural health care providers face and how they can position themselves to overcome some of these obstacles moving forward.

As patients, we’ve all been to the pharmacy to pick up a prescription for ourselves or loved ones, only to feel a little bit of sticker shock at the price of the medication. For many patients, this means facing a difficult choice: to either make a sacrifice so they may purchase their medication and adhere to their treatment regimen, or to not fill the prescription due to the financial burden. And as spending on medications in the United States increases with each passing year, the need for drug pricing transparency also increases. In this episode of The Cerner Podcast, we’re joined by Margaux Currie, Director of Product Innovation at Surescripts. Margaux leads Surescripts’ Real-Time Prescription Benefit, a Cerner solution powered by Surescripts’ network. We’re also joined by Kashif Rathore, Vice President of Interoperability at Cerner. Margaux and Kashif are here to talk about how hospitals and health care systems can adapt to the industry’s needs and consumer expectations pertaining prescription price transparency.

Change is a simple word, but it can also be a scary one – especially because new systems, strategies and leadership can be disruptive to the established status quo. But even with some disruption, change doesn't have to be a bad thing. Cerner is pleased to welcome Jeremy Gutsche as our keynote speaker at this year’s Revenue Management Symposium at the 2018 Cerner Health Conference. Jeremy is a New York Times bestselling author, award-winning innovation expert and the founder of TrendHunter.com, the world's #1 most popular trend website. Today, over 500 brands, billionaires and CEOs rely on his unique expertise to find better ideas faster. On The Cerner Podcast, Jeremy will be sharing actionable ideas on how to adapt to change faster, and how it can set the stage for innovation and business transformation in any industry.

Ep. 91: UMKC Bloch School of Management's Brian Klaas on Workforce Development by Cerner

Today, consumers are taking control of their own health and data, big brands are partnering and health systems are reacting to meet the needs of the patient. In some cases, the needs of the patient are addressed in the form of a hybrid clinic.

When the term “machine learning” was originally coined in the late 1950s, the field was little more than a computer science theory being applied to rudimentary data processors that filled entire rooms. Today, machine learning is one of the most exciting and innovative areas of health care, with the potential to make sweeping improvements to clinical decision support, imaging analytics, precision medicine and more. While the health care industry has a great deal of work ahead in designing and implementing applications for machine learning, it is easy to forget that many organizations have already implemented advanced analytics tools that are making a difference in hospitals, labs and clinics. In this episode of The Cerner Podcast, we’re joined by Liz Clements, a business architect at Geisinger Health, a Pennsylvania-based health care system widely recognized for its innovative use of the electronic health record and the development of innovative care delivery models.

Wearable health and fitness technology has exploded in popularity with consumers – and now, the health care industry is beginning to see an opportunity to integrate the devices into the continuum of care. As a leading global wearables brand, Fitbit designs products and experiences that track and provide motivation for everyday health and fitness. In this episode of The Cerner Podcast, we’re joined by Amy McDonough, the chief operating officer of Fitbit Health Solutions. She discusses the real impact that wearable technology can have on patient outcomes and where connected devices are heading next in the industry.

If you’ve ever received an email survey after making a purchase or taking a trip, called customer service with a problem, or downloaded a mobile app from a company to get better service, deals, or information, you’ve been the beneficiary of Customer Relationship Management, or CRM. CRM began as simple contact management and sales force automation – an application for sales people to follow their contacts and manage their sales process. But as the business of selling shifted to creating happy, successful customers, companies needed more than just a sales tool. Today, not only have the components of CRM grown, but the CRM customer base has expanded. In this episode of The Cerner Podcast, we’re joined by Dr. Josh Newman, the chief medical officer at Salesforce. Salesforce is a cloud-computing and CRM company headquartered in San Francisco. He discusses the intersection of health care and CRM.

In today’s constantly evolving health care industry, proper and accurate clinical documentation is more important than ever. Nurses, in particular, are responsible for a bulk of patient care and record-keeping. Atrium Health realized this, and recently, the organization embarked on a three-year clinical documentation optimization project to improve the workflow of nurses. Today on The Cerner Podcast, we’re joined by Becky Fox, chief nursing information officer and assistant vice president at Atrium Health. She discusswa how her organization leveraged data and analytics during the optimization process and what training for nursing and clinical staff looked like.

Our environment can determine so much about our lifestyle and habits. Without the proper infrastructure to support community activity and health, any number of complicated issues can take over the population. For example, unwalkable distances between shops and resources can encourage isolation and sedentary habits, which can contribute to serious health problems for a population. Enter urban planning. In the 1800s, urban planning began as a way to combat unsanitary housing practices and disease spread, and was tied closely to public health initiatives. Today, we’re seeing the rise of that relationship once more, as consumerism rises in the health care industry and urban planning adapts to the evolution of technology. In this episode of The Cerner Podcast, we’re joined by John Curran, the real estate portfolio manager at The Downtown Project in Las Vegas, who also has a background in urban planning. Downtown Project is a privately-funded, for-profit organization dedicated to helping revitalize part of downtown Vegas by investing in people and projects.